Part 48 (1/2)
The true way to conquer circureater circu to impress in the most forcible manner possible the fact that will-power is necessary to success, and that, other things being equal, the greater the will-power, the grander and more complete the success, we can not indorse the theory that there is nothing in circumstances or environments, or that any man, simply because he has an indomitable will, may become a Bonaparte, a Pitt, a Webster, a Beecher, a Lincoln We must temper detere and coainst posts We must not expect to overcome a stubborn fact ht to assu within the lith, and endurance Obstacles perress in some directions, but in any direction we o we shall find that, as a rule, they are either not insurent, persistent s, a way can be found or ive clients to lawyers and patients to physicians; place ordinary clergymen in extraordinary pulpits; place sons of the rich at the head of ie houses, when they have very ordinary ability and scarcely any experience, while poor young ood character, and large experience, often have to fight their way for years to obtain even verymen of superior ability, both in the city and in the country, who seem to be compelled by circumstances to remain in very ordinary positions for small pay, when others about them are raised by money or family influence into desirable places In other words, we all know that the best et the best places; circureat deal to do with our position, our salaries, our station in life
Every one knows that there is not always a here there is a will; that labor does not always conquer all things; that there are things ily; that one can not alwaysof himself he chooses; that there are limitations in our very natures which no amount of will-power or industry can overcome
But while it is true that the will-power can not perform miracles, yet that it is aloes to prove As Shakespeare says:--
Men at some time are masters of their fates; The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings
Showto popular prejudice is a victim of bad luck, and I will show you one who has some unfortunate crooked twist of temperament that invites disaster He is ill-te; lacks character, enthusiasm, or some other requisite for success
Disraeli said that man is not the creature of circumstances, but that circumstances are the creatures of men
Believe in the power of will, which annihilates the sickly, sentiht, but it is impossible
Give me the man who faces what he rasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the blows of circurapples with his evil star”
The indomitable will, the inflexible purpose, will find a way or make one There is always room for a man of force
”He who has a firm will,” says Goethe, ”th,” says Victor Hugo, ”they lack will”
”He who resolves upon any great end, by that very resolution has scaled the great barriers to it, and he who seizes the grand idea of self-cultivation, and solemnly resolves upon it, will find that idea, that resolution, burning like fire within hi hi difficulties, searching out, or th for weakness”
Nearly all great h above their fellows, have been rey of will
Of Julius Caesar it was said by a conteiant determination, rather than his military skill, that won his victories The youth who starts out in life deter escape him which he can possibly use for his own advancement; who keeps his ears open for every sound that can help him on his ho keeps his hands open that he may clutch every opportunity, who is ever on the alert for everything which can help hiet on in the world, who seizes every experience in life and grinds it up into paint for his great life's picture, who keeps his heart open that hewhich may inspire him,--that youth will be sure to make his life successful; there are no ”ifs” or ”ands” about it If he has his health, nothing can keep him from final success
No tyranny of circumstances can permanently imprison a determined will
The world always stands aside for the detere army may be defeated,” said Confucius, ”but you can not defeat the determined mind of a peasant”
The poor, deaf pauper, Kitto, who reatest of Biblical scholars, wrote in his journal, on the threshold of manhood: ”I am not myself a believer in impossibilities: I think that all the fine stories about natural ability, etc, areto his opportunities and industry, render hi he wishes to become”
Lincoln is probably thethe possibilities of our country Froh the rowdyisement of early bankruptcy, and the fluctuations of popular politics, he rose to the championshi+p of union and freedom
Lincoln's will made his way When his friends noislature, his enen speeches he wore a mixed jean coat so short that he could not sit down on it, flax and tow-linen trousers, straw hat, and pot- in the world but character and friends
When his friends suggested law to hi a lawyer He said he had not brains enough He read law barefoot under the trees, his neighbors said, and he sometimes slept on the counter in the store where he worked He had to borrow money to buy a suit of clothes to islature, and walked to take his seat at Vandalia,--one hundredthrough the snoo s for shoes, to borrow a book to read before the sap-bush fire See Locke, living on bread and water in a Dutch garret
See Heyne, sleeping ht on a barn floor with only a book for his pillow See Sa ”in lieu of a dinner” History is full of such examples He ill pay the price for victory need never fear final defeat