YOUR MIND AND HOW TO USE IT/ PART 31
CHAPTER XXXI.
Will-Tonic.
IN addition
to the general rules for developing and training the will given in the
preceding chapter, we ask you to tone up and strengthen the will by the
inspiration to be derived from the words of some of the world's great thinkers
and doers. In these words there is such a vital statement of the recognition,
realization, and manifestation of that something within, which we call
"will," that it is a dull soul, indeed, which is not inspired by the
contagion of the idea. These expressions are the milestones on the Path of
Attainment, placed by those who have preceded us on the journey. We submit
these quotations without comment; they speak for themselves.
Words
of the Wise.
"They
can who think they can. Character is a perfectly educated will."
"Nothing
can resist the will of a man who knows what is true and wills what is
good."
"In
all difficulties advance and will, for within you is a power, a living
force, which the more you trust and learn to use will annihilate the opposition
of matter."
"The star of the unconquered will,
It rises in my breast,
Serene and resolute and still,
And calm and self-possessed.
"So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When duty whispers low, 'Thou must!'
The youth replies, 'I can!'"
"The
longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference between men,
between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is
energy,—invincible determination,—a purpose once fixed, and then death or
victory. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world, and no
talents, no circumstances, no opportunities will make a two-legged creature a
man without it."—Buxton.
"The human will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless soul,
Can hew a way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.
"You will be what you will to be;
Let failure find its false content
In that poor word environment,
But spirit scorns it and is free.
"It masters time, it conquers space,
It cows that boastful trickster, chance,
And bids the tyrant circumstance
Uncrown and fill a servant's place."
"Resolve
is what makes a man manifest; not puny resolve, not crude determinations, not
errant purpose, but that strong and indefatigable will which treads down
difficulties and danger as a boy treads down the heaving frost lands of winter,
which kindles his eye and brain with a proud pulse beat toward the
unattainable. Will makes men giants."—Donald G. Mitchell.
"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate
Can circumvent, or hinder, or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing, will alone is great;
All things give way before it soon or late.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?
Each well-born soul must win what it deserves.
Let the fools prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action, or inaction,
Serves the one great aim. Why, even death itself
Stands still and waits an hour sometimes
For such a will."
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
"I
have brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being
with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will
which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment."—Lord
Beaconsfield.
"A
passionate desire and an unwearied will can perform impossibilities, or what
may seem to be such to the cold and feeble."—Sir John Simpson.
"It
is wonderful how even the casualties of life seem to bow to a spirit that will
not bow to them, and yield to subserve a design which they may, in their first
apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate. When a firm, decisive spirit is
recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a man and leaves
him room and freedom."—John Foster.
"The
great thing about General Grant is cool persistency of purpose. He is not
easily excited, and he has got the grip of a bulldog. When he once gets
his teeth in, nothing can shake him off."—Abraham Lincoln.
"I
am bigger than anything that can happen to me. All these things are outside my
door, and I've got the key. * * * Man was meant to be, and ought to
be, stronger and more than anything that can happen to him. Circumstances,
'Fate,' 'Luck,' are all outside; and if he cannot change them, he can
always beat them."—Charles F. Lummis.
"The
truest wisdom is a resolute determination."
"Impossible
is a word found only in the dictionary of fools."
"Circumstances!I make circumstances!"—Napoleon.
"He
who fails only half wills."—Suwarrow.
"That
which the easiest becomes a habit in us is the will. Learn, then, to will
strongly and decisively; thus fix your floating life, and leave it no longer to
be carried hither and thither, like a withered leaf, by every wind that
blows."
"Man
owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will,—that encounter
which we call effort,—and it is astonishing to find how often results
apparently impracticable are thus made possible. * * * It is will—force of
purpose—that enables a man to do or be whatever he sets his mind upon being or
doing."
"A
strong, defiant purpose is many-handed and lays hold of whatever is near
that can serve it; it has a magnetic purpose that draws to itself whatever is
kindred. * * * Let it be your first study to teach the world that you are not
wood and straw; that there is some iron in you."—Munger.
"It's dogged as
does it."—Yorkshire Proverb.
"One
talent with a will behind it will accomplish more than ten without it, as a
thimbleful of powder in a rifle, the bore of whose barrel will give it
direction, will do greater execution than a carload burned in the open
air."—O.S. Marden.
"Will
may not endow man with talents or capacities; but it does one very important
matter—it enables him to make the best, the very best, of his powers."—Fothergill.
"Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains.
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as down remains."
"Don't
flinch; don't foul; but hit the line hard."—Roosevelt.
"The
more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more
significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be."
END
OF THIS BOOK
PRODUCED
BY WISDOM DRAGONS
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