"So by keeping my eye on the ball I found it just came down to this: that that river was after somethings I figured belonged to me. It'd already got some and was all the time working to get some more. And in as how I was well known as one of the Ten Toughest Hombres this side of the Rockies, I aimed to do my best to hinder it.
And as far as I was concerned, hindering something meant -- had always meant -- going after it with everything you got, fighting and kicking, stomping and gouging, and cussing it when everything else went sour. And being just as strong in the hassle as you got it in you to be. Now that's real logical, don't you think? that's real simple. If You Wants to Win, You Does Your Best. Why, a body could paint that on a plaque and hang it up over his bedstead. He could live by it. It could be like one of the Ten Commandments for success. 'If You Wants to Win You Does Your Best.' Solid and certain as a rock; one rule I was gut-sure I could bank on.
Yet it took nothing more than my kid brother coming to spend a month with us to show me that there are other ways of winning -- like winning by giving in, by being soft, by not gritting your goddamn teeth and getting your best hold... winning by not, for damned sure, being one of the Ten Toughest Hombres west of the Rockies. And show me as well that there's times when the only way you can win is by being weak, by losing, by doing your worst instead of your best.
And learning that come near to doing me in."
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey