Life & Wisdom Quote by George A. Sheehan

Sheehan reframes success as an interior act of authorship rather than an exterior scoreboard, and that’s the quiet provocation. The triumvirate he lists - courage, determination, will - isn’t inspirational confetti; it’s a manual for sustained self-confrontation. Courage implies risk and social friction: becoming “the person you believe you were meant to be” almost always disappoints someone else’s plan for you. Determination and will signal that this isn’t a one-time leap but a daily grind against inertia, doubt, and the seductive ease of living as a smaller version of yourself.

The phrase “you believe” does a lot of work. It admits that destiny here isn’t metaphysical proof; it’s subjective conviction. Sheehan sidesteps the trap of promising certainty. He’s basically saying: you don’t get to outsource the definition of your life to metrics, institutions, or even “talent.” You make a claim about who you are, then you earn it through behavior. That’s why the quote lands as both motivational and slightly accusatory: if success is internal alignment, the excuse of bad luck or bad timing doesn’t fully absolve you.

Context matters. Sheehan wrote in a late-20th-century America enamored with achievement and status, yet he emerged from a culture of endurance (he was famously tied to distance running and the philosophy of effort). His definition of success reads like a counter-program to resume worship: not “win,” but “become,” and accept the cost.