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."
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Transcriber's note:
Obvious typographcial errors and printer errors have been corrected without comment. Other than obvious errors, no attempt has been made to correct unconventional spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. The author's usage is preserved as printed in the original publication.