The one who never stopped can tell a beginner that stopping is survivable, and be listened to politely.
The one who stopped for two years can say the identical sentence and be believed.

I spent two years acquiring the single qualification in this building that cannot be taught,
and I acquired it by accident, badly, at the worst possible time,
and it is still, this morning, the most useful thing I own.

The Book of the Fallen — Return 66:2