Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.

As a child, my parents always told me that grades didn't matter, as long as I tried my best. I was an honors student, and while I got paid a few dollars for each "A" that I earned in school, I liked doing well better.

My senior year of high school, I got my first "C" in an academic subject (physics). My parents' reaction was not what I expected. I had expected my parents to be upset (after all, my dad is just fantastic at math and science, and he tried to help me out)--"Did you try?" and I did, even though I was completely confused by the topic and the way the material was taught. My parents told me that it was fine because I worked hard to understand the material and did my best, even if it didn't look that way on my report card.