the work of the builder is preceded by the plans of the architect, so the deeds we do in life are preceded by the thoughts we think. The thought is the plan; the deed is the structure.
Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities, and for no more; and none can tell whose sphere is the largest. – Gail Hamilton. "As the twig is bent the tree is inclined." Wordsworth tells us: "The child is father of the man." Which means, also, that the child is mother of the woman. That which we dream to-day we may do to-morrow. The toys of childhood become the tools of our maturer years.
So it follows that an important part of the work and occupation of one’s early years should be to learn to have right thoughts, which, later on in life, are to become right actions.
Work is the very salt of life, not only preserving it from decay, but also giving it tone and flavor. – Hugh Black. The pleasant, helpful girl is most likely to become the pleasant, helpful woman. The seed that is sown in the springtime of life determines the character of the harvest that must be reaped in the autumn.
Treat your friends for what you know them to be. Regard no surfaces. Consider not what they did, but what they intended. – Thoreau. The cultivation of the right point of view means so much in determining one’s attitude toward all that the years may bring. Three centuries ago it was written: "What is one man’s poison is another’s meat or drink." So there are many things in life that bring pleasure to some and distress to others.
Work! It is the sole law of the world. – Emile Zola. There is a beautiful little story about a shepherd boy who was keeping his sheep in a flowery meadow, and because his heart was happy, he sang so loudly that the surrounding hills echoed back his song. One morning the king, who was out hunting, spoke to him and said: "Why are you so happy, my boy?"
"Why should I not be happy?" answered the boy. "Our king is not richer than I."
"Indeed," said the king, "pray tell me of your great possessions."
No lot is so hard, no aspect of things is so grim, but it relaxes before a hearty laugh. – George S. Merriam. The shepherd boy answered: "The sun in the bright blue sky shines as brightly upon me as upon the king. The flowers upon the mountain and the grass in the valley grow and bloom to gladden my sight as well as his. I would not take a fortune for my hands; my eyes are of more value than all the precious stones in the world. I have food and clothing, too. Am I not, therefore, as rich as the king?"
Concentration is the secret of strength. – Emerson. "You are right," said the king, with a smile, "but your greatest treasure is your contented heart. Keep it so, and you will always be happy."
Anybody can do things with an "if" – the thing is to do them without. – Patrick Flynn. So much of life’s happiness depends upon one’s immediate surroundings that wherever it is a matter of choice they should be made to conform as nearly as possible to the thoughts and tastes one wishes to cultivate. As a matter of course but few persons can have just the surroundings they would like, but it An aim in life is the only fortune worth the finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself. – R. L. Stevenson. is possible that by pleasant thinking all of us can make the surroundings we have more likable. We can, at least, be thoughtful of the character of the friends and companions we choose to have with us, and it is they who are the most vital and influential part of our
It is better to be worn out with work in a thronged community than to perish of inaction in a stagnant solitude. – Mrs. Gaskell.
Shine or shadow, flame or frost,
Zephyr-kissed or tempest-tossed,
Night or day, or dusk or dawn,
We are strangely lived upon.
Mystic builders in the brain —
Mirth and sorrow, joy and pain,
Grief and gladness, gloom and light —
Build, oh, build my heart aright!
O ye friends, with pleasant smiles,
Help me build my precious whiles;
Bring me blocks of gold to make
Strength that wrong shall never shake.
Day by day I gather from
All you give me. I become
Yet a part of all I meet
In the fields and in the street.
The advantage of leisure is mainly that we have the power of choosing our own work; not certainly that it confers any privilege of idleness. – Lord Avebury.
Bring me songs of hope and youth,
Bring me bands of steel and truth,
Bring me love wherein to find
Charity for all mankind.
Place within my hands the tools
And the Master Builder’s rules,
That the walls we fashion may
Stand forever and a day.
Help me build a palace where
All is wonderfully fair —
Built of truth, the while, above,
Shines the pinnacle of love.
Suffering becomes beautiful, when any one bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility, but through greatness of mind. – Aristotle. If we are to receive help and strength from our friends we must lend them help and strength in return. And since the deeds of others inspire us we should not deem it impossible to make our deeds inspire them.
Helen Keller, who, though deaf and Character is a perfectly educated will. – Novalis. blind, has achieved so many wonderful and beautiful victories over the barriers that have beset her, says: "My share in the work of the world may be limited, but the fact that it is work makes it precious… Darwin could work only half an hour at a time; yet in many diligent half-hours he laid anew the foundations of philosophy… Green, the historian, tells us that the world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."
One of the most massive and enduring gratifications is the feeling of personal worth, ever afresh, brought into consciousness by effectual action; and an idle life is balked of its hopes partly because it lacks this. – Herbert Spencer. In the same spirit the great French savant, Emile Zola, penned these words: "Let each one accept his task, a task which should fill his life. It may be very humble; it will not be the less useful. Never mind what it is, so long as it exists and keeps you erect! When you have regulated it, without excess – just the quantity you are able to accomplish each day – it will cause you to live in health and in joy."
Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out. – Tillotson. Some wise observer has said that one of the chief aims of life should be to learn how to grow old gracefully. This knowledge is deemed by many to be a great secret and a most valuable one. Yet it can hardly be called a secret since every girl and boy as well as every person He that is choice of his time will be choice of his company and choice of his actions. – Jeremy Taylor. of maturer years must know that it is but the working out of the laws of cause and effect. When character-building is begun on the right lines and those lines are followed to the end the result is as certain as it is beautiful. When we see a grandmother whose life has been lived on the happy plane of pure thoughts and kind deeds we ought not to wonder that her old age is as exquisite as was the perfect bloom of her youth. We need not marvel how it has come about that her life has been a long and happy one. Here is the "secret:"
She knew how to forget disagreeable
