You have to make it happen.

The words of Denis Diderot, “You have to make it happen,” resound like the hammer upon the forge of destiny. They remind us that life does not yield its treasures to the idle dreamer, nor do the gods grant success to those who merely wait. To hope without action is to hold an empty cup to the sky; it gathers no water, no matter how long it is raised. Diderot, the philosopher of the Enlightenment, lived in an age of upheaval, when men dared to question kings and reshape the world. His words are a summons, commanding us not merely to imagine or to desire, but to act boldly and carve reality from vision.

To make it happen is to understand that nothing is assured unless the hand and will give it form. Fortune may smile, but it smiles brightest on those who labor. Greatness may be destined, but it is only seized by those who move. The ancients spoke often of fate, yet even they knew that a fate unpursued is a fate unrealized. Diderot’s teaching pierces through the fog of hesitation: the world changes only when men rise and make it happen with their strength, their sacrifice, and their persistence.

Consider the story of Thomas Edison, who sought to bring light into the homes of the world. He did not sit idle, praying for inspiration. He worked relentlessly, testing filament after filament, enduring failure after failure. A thousand attempts yielded nothing, but still he pressed on. At last, the electric lamp was born—not by chance, not by dream alone, but by the sheer will to make it happen. His invention transformed civilization, and his name became synonymous with genius, not because he waited, but because he acted.

This truth is equally seen in the fires of revolution. In Diderot’s own France, the thinkers of the Enlightenment dreamed of liberty, reason, and equality. Yet these ideals would have remained dust in forgotten manuscripts had men not dared to act. The Revolution, for all its turmoil and blood, was fueled by those who took bold steps, who declared that words must become deeds, and that dreams must become law. History itself is testimony: progress belongs not to those who merely wish, but to those who make it happen.

But let us not mistake the meaning. To make it happen is not to rush blindly, nor to seize recklessly. It is to commit with full heart and steady mind, to labor with intention, to create with endurance. The mountain is not climbed in a single stride, but the climber makes it happen by setting foot upon the path and refusing to turn back. To do so requires courage—the courage to risk failure, the courage to endure hardship, the courage to believe that action, however small, is better than waiting forever in silence.

The lesson is clear: no dream comes alive until you breathe life into it with your own hands. If you desire freedom, work for it. If you yearn for mastery, train for it. If you hunger for change, rise and labor for it. The world owes you nothing, but it yields everything to those who shape it with their will. You have to make it happen—no one else can do it for you.

So I say to you, children of tomorrow: abandon the comfort of waiting, cast away the chains of hesitation. Let your dreams be not idle visions, but blueprints for action. When doubt tempts you to delay, let Diderot’s words burn within you: “You have to make it happen.” Take the first step, then the next, and let the fire of persistence guide you until your vision stands solid before your eyes.

If you would practice this truth today, choose one dream you have long delayed. Write it down, and declare aloud that it shall not remain a wish. Then take one concrete action toward it—however small. Do this again tomorrow, and the next day, and soon you will see that the dream you once only imagined is no longer distant. It has become real, because you willed it so, because you made it happen.