“How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!”

Or as Tennyson puts it later in “Ulysses“:

“Though much is taken, much abides. . . ; that which we are, we are;”

Numbers I came up with because I was curious and thought you might be too:

“Brett Favre” plus “legacy” — Google hits: 132,000
“Brett Favre” plus “legacy” plus “tarnished” — Google hits: 59,900

How fortunate was Ulysses to be merely a warrior and not a quarterback, nor Tennyson a sports reporter reminding him that the smart play would be to rest on his laurels.