Success is counted sweetest
Emily Dickinson, 1864
Emily Dickinson's poem saying that success is valued most by those who never succeed.
Success is counted sweetestBy those who ne’er succeed.To comprehend a nectarRequires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple hostWho took the flag to-dayCan tell the definition,So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,On whose forbidden earThe distant strains of triumphBreak, agonized and clear.