Story

I Will Fight It Out If I Can

Account of Sir Walter Scott’s final years

In his fifty-sixth year, with failing health and his wife dying, Sir Walter Scott faced half a million dollars of debt after a publishing firm collapsed. He could have taken bankruptcy. He shrank from the stain and asked his creditors only for time. Then began his race with death—an effort to pay the debt before he died. He wrote, “I often wish that I could lie down and sleep without waking. But I will fight it out if I can.” The refusal to quit was itself a form of honor.

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