CHAPTER VIII
THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
He who works for sweetness and light works to make reason and the will of God prevail.—Matthew Arnold. "Nothing succeeds like success."
Perhaps the true meaning of this old French proverb is that once we have a measure of success we are the more likely to achieve still more victories. The discovery that our strength, perseverance and determination have been capable of bending circumstances to our will and bringing to fulfillment the end for which Let us ever glory in something, and strive to retain our admiration for all that would ennoble, and our interest in all that would enrich and beautify our life.—Phillips Brooks. we have wished and worked, gives us renewed courage and inspiration for the undertaking of new and larger duties.
We learn to do by doing. Achievement leads to still greater achievement. Orison Swett Marden, one of the world’s wisest of observers and deepest of philosophers, says, "The world makes way for the determined man." And so it does Nothing of worth or weight can be achieved with half a mind, with a faint heart, and with a lame endeavor.—Barrow. for the determined woman, or the determined girl or boy.
Regarding this thing called "Success," too many of us are apt to think that it means some one, isolated, remarkable achievement, that comes at the end of a Good manners are part of good morals.—Whately. long period of striving in some particular field of endeavor. This is not entirely true. Every great success is made of very many lesser successes that have preceded it. Just as the cap-stone at the top of the tallest building is held in its lofty position by every stone beneath it even down to the ones deep in the earth at the very foundation of the structure, which are indeed perhaps After all, the kind of world one carries about within one’s self is the important thing, and the world outside takes all its grace, color and value from that.—Lowell. the most important of all.
So the thing which the world is pleased to call "Success" is built up by a thousand little successes on which it must finally rest. The building of a life success begins with the earliest dawn of being and must be carried on with as much care as a mason would give to the laying of the walls of a structure designed to stand for years. The mason knows that if he does not lay his In character, in manner, in style, in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.—Longfellow. foundations deep and firm, that if the walls are not kept straight and plumb, that if he puts faulty bricks or stones in the walls, the building will not be a success. The work at every stage must be a success or the completed structure must be a failure.
So it is in life. If our moments are not successful, the hours can never be so, and the days and years can but enlarge upon and emphasize their failure. "Every day is a fresh beginning, every morn is a world made new," says Susan Coolidge. There is a chance for attaining success every hour and day of our lives.
Success is not alone for the great men of the world who find new continents, The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it.—Bovee. explore the poles, navigate the air, write great poems, paint great pictures, or who amass fortunes of millions of dollars. No, success is for any and all of us, here and now, any and all the time.
Were you prepared in your studies at school to-day? If you were, that was Never mind if you cannot do all things just as well as you would like to. It is only necessary to do things just as well as you can.—Patrick Flynn. success.