“Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent”

Edward H. Hart, California manager for the Penn Mutual, said the following at the celebration of the company’s fifty-fifth anniversary:
 
“Nothing in the world will take the place of the quality of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated men who have been failures. Determination alone is omnipotent. Press on has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.”
 
The lines were reprinted in many newspapers under the title “Persistence” and were never credited to a source. U.S. President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) is often credited—incorrectly—with the popular lines.
 
     
Wikiquote: Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. (4 July 1872 – 5 January 1933) was the twenty-ninth (1921–1923) Vice President and the thirtieth (1923–1929) President of the United States.
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Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
. Quote from a program at a Coolidge memorial service (1933); cited in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999).
 
Google Books
June 1902, Insurance Sun, pg.317, col. 1:
Higher Things
[The following highly interesting address was contributed by Mr. Edward H. Hart, California manager for the Penn Mutual, at the celebration of the company’s fifty-fifth anniversary:]
Pg. 320, col. 2:
Nothing in the world will take the place of the quality of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated men who have been failures. Determination alone is omnipotent. Press on has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.
   
Chronicling America
12 December 1905, The Palestine Daily Herald (Palestine, TX), pg. 4, col. 2:
AN exchange insists that nothing else in the world will take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated men who have been failures. Determination alone is omnipotent. “Press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
   
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
16 August 1910, Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette, pg. 6, col. 1:
PERSISTENCE
Nothing can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; unsuccessful men of talent abound.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
 
23 April 1927, The Morning News Review (Florence, SC), “Did You Ever Stop To Think?” by J. A. Zeigler, pg. 1, col. 1:
The value of persistence cannot be overestimated. There are plenty of unsuccessful men with talent; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.
 
29 October 1927, The Evening Huronite (Huron, SD), “The Buzz Saw,” pg. 8, col. 3:
Persistence
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, “Press on,” has solved and always will solve the problem of the human race.
 
14 June 1930, Rockford (IL) Register-Gazette, pg. 15, col. 8:
Press On
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, “Press On,” has solved and always will solve the problem of the human race.—Exchange.
 
10 August 1930, Charlotte (NC) Sunday Observer, sec. 4, pg. 1, col. 4:
PERSISTENCE.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press on,” has solved and always will solve the problem of the human race.—Calvin Coolidge. From C. T. Mackness, Jacksonville, Ill.
 
Google News Archive
27 November 1937, Ottawa (Ontario) Evening Citizen, “Dale Carnegie Tells of the Importance of fair play,” pg. 2, col. 4:
Nothing in the world will take the place of persistence. Talent will not, for nothing is so common as unsuccessful men with talent. Education will do little for you; the world is full of educated derelicts, that is, people who have been stuffed with mere book learning. Genius will not, for unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.
 
We have the word of many successful men as to this. Calvin Coolidge was a man of few words, but his words always counted. He pinned his faith to persistence.
 
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Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Nothing can take the place of persistence. - Coolidge
10:55 AM - 3 Dec 2014