Character and Conduct Part 7

The Secret of Thrift

FEBRUARY 11

"The secret of thriving is thrift; saving of force; to get as much work as possible done with the least expenditure of power, the least jar and obstruction, the least wear and tear. And the secret of thrift is knowledge. In proportion as you know the laws and nature of a subject, you will be able to work at it easily, surely, rapidly, successfully, instead of wasting your money or your energies in mistaken schemes, irregular efforts, which end in disappointment and exhaustion."

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

"It is never enough for us simply to _know_. We must also _weigh_."

_The Making of Character_, PROF. MACCUNN.

"Doing good, being so divine a privilege, is beset by its own dangers.

Let us see that our good be not evil spoken of by want of thought, method, and self-denial in the doing of it. The world is waiting for us, with our little store. Oh that we might economise it more, devote it more thoroughly, and add to it! Every time we pray, or study, or work, we are receiving to give away. Men are looking to us in faintness, weariness, and want, and a voice says to us, 'Give ye them to eat.' If it is but five loaves, we can offer them to Christ, and He will multiply them."

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

Endurance

FEBRUARY 12

"'A somewhat varied experience of men has led me, the longer I live,'

said Huxley, 'to set less value on mere cleverness; to attach more and more importance to industry and physical endurance. Indeed, I am much disposed to think that endurance is the most valuable quality of all; for industry, as the desire to work hard, does not come to much if a feeble frame is unable to respond to the desire. No life is wasted unless it ends in sloth, dishonesty, or cowardice. No success is worthy of the name unless it is won by honest industry and brave breasting of the waves of fortune.'"

"Of all work producing results, nine-tenths must be drudgery. There is no work, from the highest to the lowest, which can be done well by any man who is unwilling to make that sacrifice. Part of the very n.o.bility of the devotion of the true workman to his work consists in the fact that a man is not daunted by finding that drudgery must be done, and no man can really succeed in any walk of life without a good deal of what in ordinary English is called pluck. That is the condition of all success, and there is nothing which so truly repays itself as this perseverance against weariness."

Bishop PHILPOTTS.

Perseverance

FEBRUARY 13

"Practise thyself even in the things which thou despairest of accomplis.h.i.+ng. For even the left hand, which is ineffectual for all other things for want of practice, holds the bridle more vigorously than the right hand; for it has been practised in this."

MARCUS AURELIUS.

"'It is not the spurt at the start, but the continued, unresting, unhasting advance that wins the day.'"

"The same law runs in ordinary life, and he only need expect to attain success and win the honour of his fellow-men who is thorough. The reason why men fail is, in five cases out of six, not through want of influence or brains, or opportunity, or good guidance, but because they are slack; and the reason why certain men with few advantages succeed, is that they are diligent, concentrated, persevering and conscientious--because, in fact, they are thorough."

_The Homely Virtues_, DR. JOHN WATSON.

"Unto him who works, and feels he works, This same grand year is ever at the doors."

TENNYSON.

Pleasure in Work

FEBRUARY 14

"Joy or delight in what we are doing is not a mere luxury; it is a means, a help for the more perfect doing of our work. Indeed, it may be truly said that no man does any work perfectly who does not enjoy his work. Joy in one's work is the consummate tool without which the work may be done indeed, but without which the work will always be done slowly, clumsily, and without its finest perfectness. Men who do their work without enjoying it are like men carving statues with hatchets. The statue gets carved perhaps, and is a monument for ever of the dogged perseverance of the artist; but there is a perpetual waste of toil, and there is no fine result in the end."

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

"Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous,--a spirit all suns.h.i.+ne; graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright."

CARLYLE.

"Every joy is gain, and gain is gain, however small."

BROWNING.

Duty

FEBRUARY 15

"In Life's small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained: know'st thou when Fate Thy measure takes, or when she'll say to thee 'I find thee worthy; do this thing for me'?"

LOWELL.

"Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers."

_Amiel's Journal._

"I'll bind myself to that which, once being right, Will not be less right when I shrink from it."

KINGSLEY.

"There's life alone in duty done, And rest alone in striving."

WHITTIER.

Duty

FEBRUARY 16

"A duty is no sooner divined than from that very moment it becomes binding upon us."