John Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years

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PRESS ON REGARDLESS

Commencement AddressThe Owen School of Management,Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TennesseeMay 8, 1992

I IMAGINE THAT it is a rare uncle who has served as the inspiration for a commencement address, but that is nonetheless the case today. My late uncle, Clifton Armstrong Hip-kins, was a model citizen, an integrity-laden investment banker, and, most relevant to my theme today, a dedicated sailor. I shall never forget the message captured in the name of his old New England lobsterboat, “Press On Regardless.” And that is the message that I shall urge on you today: press on, regardless.

One of my avocations is lexicography. I love to study the derivation of words and phrases, and a highlight of my life was my contribution to one of William Safire's “On Language” columns in The New York Times a few years ago. But I have been unable to discover a precise provenance for “Press On Regardless.” However, Calvin Coolidge—a taciturn Vermonter who seems to have wasted fewer words than any American President in the 20^th century, perhaps because he engaged in the rapidly disappearing art of writing his own speeches—surely made a major contribution:

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 ...