William Ernest Henley

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Invictus

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus
The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.

Louis Brandeis (1956 - 1941) Supreme Court Justice. According to historian Heather Cox Richardson (3/31/24), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg often quoted Justice Brandeis’s famous line, saying she advised people to “fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”