mordant wit

Clint Eastwood was once told by a Universal Pictures executive that his future wasn't very promising. The man said, "You have a chip on your tooth, your Adam's apple sticks out too far, and you talk too slow."

Thomas A. Edison, America's most prolific inventor, was granted 1,093 patents by the U.S. Patent office, more than anyone else--yet they included such duds as a perpetual cigar, furniture made of cement and a way of using goldenrod for rubber.

Henry Ford forgot to put reverse gear in the first car he manufactured. Then in 1957, he bragged about the car of the decade. It was the Edsel, renowned for doors that wouldn't close, a hood that wouldn't open, paint that peeled, a horn that stuck, and a reputation that made it impossible to resell.

Liv Ullman, two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Actress, failed an audition for the state theater school in Norway. The judges told her she had no talent.

Albert Einstein did poorly in elementary school, and he failed his first college entrance exam at Zurich Polytechnic. But he became one of the greatest scientists in the history of the world.

That means there's still some hope for all of YOU.