Here is a lesson in perseverance - Many will know this person and honor him greatly.

    His mother died while he was still a child. Later, the lady he loved and planned to marry also died. His grocery business went bankrupt, and being an honorable man, he worked for seventeen years to pay back his creditors.

    He thought perhaps he was not cut out for business and tried his hand at politics, but was regularly defeated by his opponents. So he tried business again, and failed again.

    Here is his "résumé"

      1831 - failed in business
      1832 - defeated for the legislature
      1833 - failed in business again
      1835 - sweetheart died
      1836 - sufferred a nervous breakdown
      1838 - defeated in his bid for Speaker
      1843 - defeated for Congress
      1855 - defeated for the Senate
      1856 - defeated for Vice-President
      1858 - defeated for the Senate
      1860 - elected President of the United States of America