"Now, I know what you're thinkin'. How the heck does a 52-year-old, over-the-hill milkshake-machine salesman... build a fast-food empire with 16,000 restaurants, in 50 states, in 5 foreign countries... with an annual revenue of in the neighborhood of $700,000,000.00... One word... PERSISTENCE. Nothing in this world can take the place of good old persistence. Talent won't. Nothing's more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won't. Unrecognized genius is practically a cliche. Education won't. Why the world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful. ... It's these core principles... that enabled me to rise to the top of a heap... at a point in life when most men would be thinking about retirement. Why, we appear to have that in common, governer Reagan."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Founder