I have asked myself many times when it comes to my dreams, am I really willing to do what it will take to get there? You have probably read or heard the following quote by W. H. Murray. It’s quite inspirational and a bit romantic. (It also misquotes Goethe but hey, it is still a powerful statement and Goethe should have said it that way anyway). It haunts me when I really think about it and compare my own efforts at times.
But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!
William Murray was a mountaineer and climbed mountains all over the world. He was also a writer. According to a biographical account of Murray, he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders when World War II commenced and was stationed in the Middle East and North Africa. In June 1942, while in North Africa, he was captured by the Germans during a retreat of his unit. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner in POW camps in Italy, Germany, and Czechoslovakia.
It was while a prisoner, that he wrote the manuscript for a book that would be entitled Mountaineering In Scotland. He wrote it on he only paper that was available to him, the rough toilet paper they were rationed in the camp. The manuscript was found by the Gestapo who confiscated and destroyed it. This did not put an end though to Murray’s commitment to write his book. He started over.
His physical condition, like that of his fellow prisoners, was extremely poor. He was living on a near starvation diet. There was no guarantee that he would even make it out of the prison camp alive, or that his manuscript wouldn’t be confiscated and destroyed again. Ultimately, Murray was able to publish his book after the war in 1947.
In 1957 Murray wrote a sequel to that first book, Undiscovered Scotland, and later a third book The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, the book his famous quote is found in. The quote refers to his 1950 climbing expedition to the Kumaon mountain range in the Himalayas.
What if Murray had not persisted? What if he didn’t write his first book after the manuscript had been destroyed by the Gestapo? Would there have been the third book with its very famous and inspirational quote?
It makes me wonder, what will persistence in our dreams bring us? What do we need to start? What magic awaits our efforts? Is it worth finding out? Is it worth being bold?