“It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize…” – Alexander Pope

A loving father restrains the heat of a son with sage advice before a sporting contest…

“My son! though youthful ardour fire thy breast,
The gods have loved thee, and with arts have bless’d:
Neptune and Jove on thee conferr’d the skill
Swift round the goal to turn the flying wheel.
To guide thy conduct little precept needs:
But slow, and pasty their vigour, are my steeds.
Fear not thy rivals, though for swiftness known;
Compare those rivals judgement and thy own:
It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize,
And to be swift is less than to be wise…”

An excerpt from Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s Iliad.
[You can read much of it online at Google Books.]