>People may criticize you or make fun of your ideas or actively try to stop > you. Often their efforts are only attempts to protect you from failure. But > failure is only a possibility if you stop. If you keep going, a failure is > just another learning experience. And besides, giving up on a heartfelt > aspiration is worse than failing. "Many people die," said Oliver Wendell > Holmes, "with their music still in them." That's true tragedy. > So listen politely to the worries and criticisms of your friends and family, > and do your best to put their minds at ease, but then carry on. Listen last > to your own heart. > You know yourself better than anyone on earth. Make sure your song is sung.