How old will be you be in seven years if you don’t go to medical school (or fulfill any other ambition)? – Pauline Phillips (“Dear Abby”)

Few of her readers realized that Abigail Van Buren, who penned the long-running “Dear Abby” advice columns from 1956 until her death in 2013, was actually a Jewish woman named Pauline Phillips from Sioux City, Iowa. One of her most famous pieces of advice was given to “Unfulfilled in Philly”, who wrote that he would love to be a doctor, but if he were to go back to college and get his degree, then go to medical school, then do an internship, and finally practice medicine, it would take him seven years and he’d be 43 years old. Dear Abby’s advice was priceless: How old will you be in seven years if you don’t do all those things? It’s better to fulfill our dreams later in life than never.

Though the righteous one may fall seven times, he will arise. – King Solomon (Proverbs 24:16)

In Jewish thinking, a great person isn’t one who never fails; it’s one who fails and keeps trying. You can only become a truly great person through the crucible of failure and perseverance.

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. – Albert Einstein

Success is determined in great part by our ability to keep trying. Even when the task is difficult, persevering can help us succeed in the end.

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