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1、1. The Road to SuccessIt is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the
2、 first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the
3、future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a f
4、ig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My place is at the top.” Be king in your drea
5、ms.And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and
6、know the most about it.The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here, there, and everywhere. “Dont put all your eggs in one basket.” is all wrong. I tell you to
7、“put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.” Look round you and take notice, men who do that not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his
8、head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.To summarize what I have said: aim for the highest; never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make
9、 the firms interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly, be not impatient, for as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves.”2. When Love Beckons You
10、When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
11、For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to our roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.But if, in your
12、fear, you would seek only loves peace and loves pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of loves threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but itself an
13、d takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must have desires, let these be your desires:To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.To k
14、now the pain of too much tenderness.To be wounded by your own understanding of love;And to bleed willingly and joyfully.To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;To rest at the noon hour and meditate loves ecstasy;To return home at eventide with gratitude;And then
15、 to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.3. If I Rest, I RustThe significant inscription found on an old key -“If I rest, I rust”- would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious pe
16、rson might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep thei
17、r faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture - every department of human endeavor.Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Mill
18、er, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given
19、 his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.Labor vanquishes all - not inconstant
20、, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.4. A Wet Sunday In A Country InnA wet Sunday in a country inn! Whoeve
21、r has had the luck to experience one can only judge of my situation. The rain pattered against the casements; the bells tolled for church with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse the eye; but it seemed as if I had been placed completely out of the reach of all am
22、usement. The windows of my bed-room looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of the stable yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable yard on a rainy day.The place was littered with wet straw
23、 that had been kicked about by travellers and stable-boys. In one corner was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit; his drooping
24、 tail matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from his hack; near the cart was a half-dozing cow, chewing her cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of the stable,
25、was poking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered something every now and then between a bark and a yelp; a drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in pattens, looking as
26、sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon companions round a puddle and making a riotous noise over their liquor.5. Today I will be master of my emotionsThe tides advance; the tides recede. Winter goes and
27、summer comes. Summer wanes and the cold increases. The sun rises; the sun sets. The moon is full; the moon is black. The birds arrive; the birds depart. Flowers bloom; flowers fade. Seeds are sown; harvests are reaped. all nature is a circle of moods and I am a part of nature and so, like the tides,
28、 my moods will rise; my moods will fall.It is one of natures tricks, little understood, that each day I awaken with moods that have changed from yesterday. Yesterdays joy will become todays sadness; yet todays sadness will grow into tomorrows joy. Inside me is a wheel, constantly turning from sadnes
29、s to joy, from exultation to depression, from happiness to melancholy. Like the flowers, todays full bloom of joy will fade and wither into despondency, yet I will remember that as todays dead flower carries the seed of tomorrows bloom so, too, does todays sadness carry the seed of tomorrows joy.And
30、 how will I master these emotions so that each day will be productive? For unless my mood is right the day will be a failure. Trees and plants depend on the weather to flourish but I make my own weather, yea I transport it with me.And how will I master my emotions so that every day is a happy day, a
31、nd a productive one? I will learn this secret of the ages: Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts. Each day, when I awaken, I will follow this plan of battle before I am captured by the forces of sadness, self-pity and
32、failure.If I feel depressed I will sing.If I feel sad I will laugh.If I feel ill I will double my labor.If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.If I feel incompetent I wi
33、ll remember past success.If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.Henceforth, I will know that only those with inferior ability can always be at their best, and I am not inferior. There will be days when I must constantly struggle against forces which would tear me down. Those such as despai
34、r and sadness are simple to recognize but there are others which approach with a smile and the hand of friendship and they can also destroy me. Against them, too, I must never relinquish control.If I become overconfident I will recall my failures.If I overindulge I will think of past hungers.If I fe
35、el complacency I will remember my competition.If I enjoy moments of greatness I will remember moments of shame.If I feel all-powerful I will try to stop the wind.If I attain great wealth I will remember one unfed mouth.If I become overly proud I will remember a moment of weakness.If I feel my skill
36、is unmatched I will look at the stars.Henceforth I will recognize and identify the mysteries of moods in all mankind, and in me. From this moment I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods through positive action. When I master my moods I will control
37、 my destiny.I will become master of myself.I will become great.6. Companionship of BooksA man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books
38、 or of men.A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing an
39、d instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog
40、.” But there is more wisdom in this: “Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best tha
41、t life could think out; for the world of a mans life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.Books possess an essence of immortality. Th
42、ey are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as
43、ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said
44、and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were, in a measure, actors with them in the scenes which they describe.The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in boo
45、ks, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens.7. AmbitionIt is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: without demands, without abrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for r
46、eflection. Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity. Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its functi
47、ons. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!There is a strong view that holds th
48、at success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events. Now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, nor a
49、ll ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is something one soon enough learns on ones own. But even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging. It is, in its implications, to remove a
