Don’t Quit

Edgar Albert Guest was an American poet and an immigrant to the United States. Born in England, Guest came to the U.S. at the age of 10 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen at 21.

Immprof Rose Cuison Villazor has shared Guest’s poem “Don’t Quit” with her students. It’s a great motivator for students in a podium immigration class or in an immigration clinic.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

-KitJ