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ORISON SWETT MARDEN
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
"All are architects of fate Working in these walls of time." "Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build." "Let thy great deed be thy prayer to thy God." The demand for more than a dozen editions of "Pushing to the Front" during its first year and its universally favorable reception, both at home and abroad, have encouraged the author to publish this companion volume of somewhat similar scope and purpose. The two books were prepared simultaneously, and the story of the first,
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CHAPTER I. WANTED—A MAN.
CHAPTER I. WANTED—A MAN.
"Wanted; men: Not systems fit and wise, Not faiths with rigid eyes, Not wealth in mountain piles, Not power with gracious smiles, Not even the potent pen: Wanted; men." Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man.—JEREMIAH. All the world cries, Where is the man who will save us? We want a man! Don't look so far for this man. You have him at hand. This man,—it is you, it is I, it is each one of us!… How to c
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CHAPTER II. DARE.
CHAPTER II. DARE.
The Spartans did not inquire how many the enemy are, but where they are.—AGIS II. What's brave, what's noble, let's do it after the high Roman fashion, and make death proud to take us.—SHAKESPEARE. Better, like Hector, in the field to die, Than, like a perfumed Paris, turn and fly. LONGFELLOW. Let me die facing the enemy.—BAYARD. Who conquers me, shall find a stubborn foe.—BYRON. Courage in danger is half the battle.—PLAUTUS. No great deed is done By falterers who ask for certainty. GEORGE ELIOT
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COMMODORE PERRY
COMMODORE PERRY
"We have met the enemy and they are ours." "He either fears his fate too much Or his deserts too small, That dares not put it to the touch, To gain or lose it all." "Bring back the colors," shouted a captain at the battle of the Alma, when an ensign maintained his ground in front, although the men were retreating. "No," cried the ensign, "bring up the men to the colors." "To dare, and again to dare, and without end to dare," was Danton's noble defiance to the enemies of France. "The Commons of F
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CHAPTER III. THE WILL AND THE WAY.
CHAPTER III. THE WILL AND THE WAY.
"The 'way' will be found by a resolute will." "I will find a way or make one." Nothing is impossible to the man who can will.—MIRABEAU. A politician weakly and amiably in the right is no match for a politician tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong.—E. P. WHIPPLE. The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand quail; A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of battle, And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled. TUPPER. "Man alone can perform the impossible.
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WALTER SCOTT
WALTER SCOTT
"The Wizard of the North." "So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,' The youth replies, 'I can.'" At a dinner party given in 1837, at the residence of Chancellor Kent, in New York city, some of the most distinguished men in the country were invited, and among them was a young and rather melancholy and reticent Frenchman. Professor Morse was one of the guests, and during the evening he drew the attention of Mr. Gallatin, then a prominent statesm
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CHAPTER IV. SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
CHAPTER IV. SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
Victories that are easy are cheap. Those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting.—BEECHER. Man owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will, that encounter with difficulty, which we call effort; and it is astonishing to find how often results that seemed impracticable are thus made possible.—EPES SARGENT. I know no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that tenacity of purpose which, through all change of companions, or parties, or for
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WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT
How can you keep a determined man from success: Place stumbling-blocks in his way, and he uses them for stepping-stones. Imprison him, and he produces the "Pilgrim's Progress." Deprive him of eyesight, and he writes the "Conquest of Mexico." "My son," said this same boy's mother, on the first of May, 1810, when he asked her to lend him one hundred dollars to buy a boat, having imbibed a strong liking for the sea; "on the twenty-seventh of this month you will be sixteen years old. If, by that tim
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CHAPTER V. USES OF OBSTACLES.
CHAPTER V. USES OF OBSTACLES.
Nature, when she adds difficulties, adds brains.—EMERSON. Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.—SPURGEON. The good are better made by ill, As odors crushed are sweeter still. ROGERS. Aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crushed or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around. GOLDSMITH. As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man.—YOUNG. There is no possible success without some opposition as a fulcrum: force is always agg
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JOHN BUNYAN
JOHN BUNYAN
"Sculptor of souls, I lift to Thee Encumbered heart and hands; Spare not the chisel, set me free, However dear the bands. "I do believe God wanted a grand poem of that man," said George Macdonald of Milton, "and so blinded him that he might be able to write it." Two of the three greatest epic poets of the world were blind,—Homer and Milton; while the third, Dante, was in his later years nearly, if not altogether, blind. It almost seems as though some great characters had been physically crippled
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CHAPTER VI. ONE UNWAVERING AIM.
CHAPTER VI. ONE UNWAVERING AIM.
Life is an arrow—therefore you must know What mark to aim at, how to use the bow— Then draw it to the head and let it go. HENRY VAN DYKE. The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and to possess the aptitude and perseverance to attain it.—GOETHE. Concentration alone conquers.—C. BUXTON. "He who follows two hares is sure to catch neither." "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." Let every one ascertain his special business and calling, and then stick to it if he would be succ
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RICHARD ARKWRIGHT
RICHARD ARKWRIGHT
What a sublime spectacle is that of a man going straight to his goal, cutting his way through difficulties, and surmounting obstacles which dishearten others, as though they were stepping-stones. It is fashionable to ridicule the man of one idea, but the men who have changed the front of the world have been men of a single aim. No man can make his mark on this age of specialties who is not a man of one idea, one supreme aim, one master passion. The man who would make himself felt on this bustlin
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CHAPTER VII. SOWING AND REAPING.
CHAPTER VII. SOWING AND REAPING.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.—GALATIANS. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.—G. D. BOARDMAN. Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.—POPE. How use doth breed a habit in a man.—SHAKESPEARE. All habits gather, by unseen degrees, As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. DRYDEN. Infinite good comes from good habits which must result from the common influen
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VICTOR HUGO
VICTOR HUGO
"Every one is the son of his own works." "Cast forth thy act, thy word, into the ever-living, ever-working universe: it is seed-grain that cannot die." It is a beautiful arrangement in the mental and moral economy of our nature, that that which is performed as a duty may, by frequent repetitions, become a habit, and the habit of stern virtue, so repulsive to others, may hang around the neck like a wreath of flowers." Cholera appeared mysteriously in Toulon, and, after a careful examination, the
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CHAPTER VIII. SELF-HELP.
CHAPTER VIII. SELF-HELP.
I learned that no man in God's wide earth is either willing or able to help any other man.—PESTALOZZI. What I am I have made myself.—HUMPHRY DAVY. Be sure, my son, and remember that the best men always make themselves.—PATRICK HENRY. Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? BYRON. God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest.—J. G. HOLLAND. Never forget that others will depend upon you, and that you cannot depend upon them.—DUMA
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[Illustration: James A. Garfield (missing from book)]
[Illustration: James A. Garfield (missing from book)]
"Take the place and attitude which belong to you," says Emerson, "and all men acquiesce. The world must be just. It leaves every man with profound unconcern to set his own rate." Grant was no book soldier. Some of his victories were contrary to all instructions in military works. He did not dare to disclose his plan to invest Vicksburg, and he even cut off all communication on the Mississippi River for seven days that no orders could reach him from General Halleck, his superior officer; for he k
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CHAPTER IX. WORK AND WAIT.
CHAPTER IX. WORK AND WAIT.
What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are; and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.—H. P. LIDDON. In all matters, before beginning, a diligent preparation should be made.—CICERO. I consider a human soul without education like marble in a quarry which shows none of its inherent beauties until the skill of the polisher sketches out the colors, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot, and vein that run
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THOMAS ALVA EDISON
THOMAS ALVA EDISON
"The Wizard of Menlo Park." "What the world wants is men who have the nerve and the grit to work and wait, whether the world applaud or hiss." "Yes," said his betrothed, "I understand that; but, surely, if all stamps had a date put upon them they could not at a future time be used without detection." This was a very short speech, and of no special importance if we omit a single word of four letters; but, like the schoolboy's pins which saved the lives of thousands of people annually by not getti
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CHAPTER X. CLEAR GRIT.
CHAPTER X. CLEAR GRIT.
I shall show the cinders of my spirits Through the ashes of my chance. SHAKESPEARE. What though ten thousand faint, Desert, or yield, or in weak terror flee! Heed not the panic of the multitude; Thine be the captain's watchword,—Victory! HORATIUS BONAR. Better to stem with heart and hand The roaring tide of life, than lie, Unmindful, on its flowery strand, Of God's occasions drifting by! Better with naked nerve to hear The needles of this goading air, Than in the lap of sensual ease forego The g
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ANDREW JACKSON
ANDREW JACKSON
"Old Hickory." "Stick to your aim: the mongrel's hold will slip, But only crowbars loose the bull-dog's grip." "The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never blenches, the thought that never wanders,—these are the masters of victory." "Perseverance is a Roman virtue, That wins each godlike act, and plucks success E'en from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger." At a time when abolitionists were dangerously unpopular, a crowd of brawny Cape Cod fishermen had made such riotous demonstrations
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CHAPTER XI. THE GRANDEST THING IN THE WORLD.
CHAPTER XI. THE GRANDEST THING IN THE WORLD.
"One ruddy drop of manly blood the surging sea outweighs." "Manhood overtops all titles." The truest test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops; no, but the kind of man the country turns out.—EMERSON. Hew the block off, and get out the man.—POPE. Eternity alone will reveal to the human race its debt of gratitude to the peerless and immortal name of Washington.—JAMES A. GARFIELD. Better not be at all Than not be noble. TENNYSON. Be noble! and the nobleness that
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[Illustration: John Greenleaf Whittier (missing from book)]
[Illustration: John Greenleaf Whittier (missing from book)]
Character never dies. As Longfellow says:— "Were a star quenched on high, For ages would its light, Still traveling downward from the sky, Shine on our mortal sight. "So when a great man dies, For years beyond our ken, The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men." The character of Socrates was mightier than the hemlock, and banished the fear and sting of death. Who can estimate the power of a well-lived life? Character is power . Hang this motto in every school in the land, in ever
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CHAPTER XII. WEALTH IN ECONOMY.
CHAPTER XII. WEALTH IN ECONOMY.
Economy is half the battle of life.—SPURGEON. Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty and ease, and the beauteous sister of temperance, of cheerfulness and health.—DR. JOHNSON. Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants and to serve them one's self? As much wisdom can be expended on a private economy as on an empire.—EMERSON. Riches amassed in haste will diminish; but those collected by hand and little by little will multiply.—GOETHE. No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from
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ALEXANDER HAMILTON
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
"The Moses of Colonial Finance." "Poverty is a condition which no man should accept, unless it is forced upon him as an inexorable necessity or as the alternative of dishonor." "Comfort and independence abide with those who can postpone their desires." Emerson relates the following anecdote: "An opulent merchant in Boston was called on by a friend in behalf of a charity. At that time he was admonishing his clerk for using whole wafers instead of halves; his friend thought the circumstance unprop
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CHAPTER XIII. RICH WITHOUT MONEY.
CHAPTER XIII. RICH WITHOUT MONEY.
Let others plead for pensions; I can be rich without money, by endeavoring to be superior to everything poor. I would have my services to my country unstained by any interested motive.—LORD COLLINGWOOD. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. GOLDSMITH. Pennilessness is not poverty, and ownership is not possession; to be without is not always to lack, and to reach is not to attain; sunlight is for all eyes that look up, and color for those who choose
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RALPH WALDO EMERSON
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
"The Sage of Concord." "I revere the person who is riches: so I cannot think of him as alone, or poor, or exiled, or unhappy." A man born with a good, sound constitution, a good stomach, a good heart and good limbs, and a pretty good headpiece, is rich. Good bones are better than gold, tough muscles than silver, and nerves that carry energy to every function are better than houses and land. "Heart-life, soul-life, hope, joy, and love, are true riches," said Beecher. Why should I scramble and str
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CHAPTER XIV. OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU ARE.
CHAPTER XIV. OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU ARE.
To each man's life there comes a time supreme; One day, one night, one morning, or one noon, One freighted hour, one moment opportune, One rift through which sublime fulfillments gleam, One space when fate goes tiding with the stream, One Once, in balance 'twixt Too Late, Too Soon, And ready for the passing instant's boon To tip in favor the uncertain beam. Ah, happy he who, knowing how to wait, Knows also how to watch and work and stand On Life's broad deck alert, and at the prow To seize the p
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THOMAS JEFFERSON
THOMAS JEFFERSON
"The world is all gates, all opportunities to him who can use them.' "'T is never offered twice, seize then the hour When fortune smiles and duty points the way." No chance, no opportunities, in a land where many poor boys become rich men, where newsboys go to Congress, and where those born in the lowest stations attain the highest positions? The world is all gates, all opportunities to him who will use them. But, like Bunyan's Pilgrim in the dungeon of Giant Despair's castle, who had the key of
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CHAPTER XV. THE MIGHT OF LITTLE THINGS.
CHAPTER XV. THE MIGHT OF LITTLE THINGS.
Little strokes fell great oaks.—FRANKLIN. Think naught a trifle, though it small appear; Small sands the mountain, moments make the year, And trifles, life. YOUNG. "Scorn not the slightest word or deed, Nor deem it void of power; There's fruit in each wind-wafted seed, That waits its natal hour." It is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in trifles.—WENDELL PHILLIPS. He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little.—ECCLESIASTICUS. Often from our weakness our stronges
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AGASSIZ
AGASSIZ
Small things become great when a great soul sees them. Trifles light as air sometimes suggest to the thinking mind ideas which revolutionize the world. We may tell which way the wind blew before the Deluge by marking the ripple and cupping of the rain in the petrified sand now preserved forever. We tell the very path by which gigantic creatures, whom man never saw, walked to the river's edge to find their food. The tears of Veturia and Volumnia saved Rome from the Volscians when nothing else cou
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CHAPTER XVI. SELF-MASTERY.
CHAPTER XVI. SELF-MASTERY.
Give me that man That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart. SHAKESPEARE. Strength of character consists of two things,—power of will and power of self-restraint. It requires two things, therefore, for its existence,—strong feelings and strong command over them.—F. W. ROBERTSON. "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power." The bravest trophy ever man obtained Is that which o'er himself himself h
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JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
"We rise by the things that are under our feet; By what we have mastered of good or gain: By the pride deposed and the passion slain, And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet." The sun was high in the heavens when a man called at the house of Pericles to abuse him. The man's anger knew no bounds. He vented his spite in violent language until he paused from sheer exhaustion, and saw that it was quite dark without. He turned to go home, when Pericles calmly called a servant, and said, "Bring a
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