KEEPING PLEASANT
“He is a fool who cannot be angry, but he is really a wise man who will not.”
The habit of keeping pleasant is indeed better than an income of a thousand
dollars a year. The life without happyiness is the life without the sun.
We all love cheerful company, but we are apt to forget that cheerful company, but
we apt to forget that cheerfulness is a habit which can be cultivated by all.
We find it very difficult to be gay when we are in distress. It requires great
courage. We should never forget that to be cheerful when it is not easy to be cheertul
shows greatness.
Thorny may be our way, but how happy is the conqueror’s song!
The perfection of cheertulness consist in the happy Frame of mind. It is displayed
in good temper and kind behavior. It arises partly from personal goodness and partly
from belief in the goodness of other. It sees the glory in the grass and the sunshine on
the flower. It costs nothing, and yet it is invaluable. It blesses its bossessor, and
affords a large measure of enjoyment to others .
FRANKNESS
Frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to, on
every occasion.If a friend asks a favor ,you should grant it,if it is reasonable; if
not,tell him plainiy why you cannot.You would wrong him and worong yourself by
equivocation of any kind.
Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep on.The man who requires you to
do is dearly purchased at a sacrifice.Deal kindly but Firmly with all your
classmates.You will find it the poiicy which wear best . Above all,do not appear to
others what you are not.
If you have any fault to find with any one,tell him,not others,of what you
complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to do one
thing before a msn,s face and another behind his back.We should say and do nothing
to the injury of any one.It is not only a matter of principle,but also the path of peace
and honor.
OF STUDIES
studies serve for delight, for ornament,and for ability .Their chief use for delight,
is in privateness and retiring ; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the
judgment and disposition of business.For expert men can execute. and prthaps judge
of particulars, one by one ;but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of
affairs, come best from those that are learned.
To spend too much time in studies is sloth;to use them too much for oranament is
affectation;to make judgment is affection;to make judgment wholly by their rules is
the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature,and are perfected by experience.For
natural abilities are like natural plants,that need pruning by study;and studies
themselves do give forth directions too much atlarge,except they bounded in by
experience.
Cratty men contemn studied,simple men admire them, and wise men use them;for
they teach not their own use,but that is wisdom without them and above them, won
by observation.
Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
And, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer
little, he need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning,
to seem to know that he does not.
Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural
philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.So every defect of
the mind may have a special receipt.
By Francis Bacon
ON EDUCATION
The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth
of tradition from one generation to the next. This applies today in and even higher
degree than in former times for, through modern development of the economic life,
the family as bearer of tradition and education has been weakened. The continuance
and health of human society is therefore in a still higher degree dependent on the
school than formerly.
Sometimes one sees in the school simply the instrument for transferring a certain
maximum quantity of knowledge to the growing generation. But that is not right.
Knowledge is dead; the school, however, serves the living. It should develop in
young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of the value for the
welfare of the commonwealth. But that does not mean that individuality should be
destroyed and the individual become a mere tool of the community, like a bed or an
ant. For a community of standardized individuals without personal originality and
personal aims would be a poor community without possibilities for development. Or
the contrary, the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinking
individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life
problem. As far as I can judge, the English school system comes nearest to the
realization of this ideal.
By Albert Einstein
SUCCESS
There are no secrets of success. Success is doing the things you know you should
do. Success is not doing the things you know you should not do.
Success is not limited to any one area of your life. It encompasses all of the facets
of your relationships :as parent,as wifeor hasband, as citizen, neighbor, worker, and
all of the others.
Success is not comfined to any one part of your personality but is related to the
development of all the parts : body , mind, heart, and spirit. It is making the most of
your total self.
Success is discovering your best talents, sklls, and abilities and applying them
where they will make the most effective contribution to your fellow men .
Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning
desire to achieve.
Success is ninety-nine precent mental attitude . It calls for love , joy, optimism,
confidence , serenity , poise , faith , courage , cheerfulness , imagination , initiative ,
tolerance , honesty , humilith , patience , and enthusiasm .
Success is not arriving at the summit of a mountain as a final destination . It is a
continuing upward spiral of progress . It is a perpetual growth.
Success is having the courage to meet failure without being defeated. It is
refusing to let present loss interfere with your long-range goal.
Success is accepting the challenge of the difficult . In the inspiring words of
Phillips Brooks :’’Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal
to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the
miracle.”
THE AIM OF A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
If a practical end must be assigned to a university course, I say it is that of
training good members of society. Its art is the art of social life, and its fitness for the
world. It neither confines its views to particular professions on the hand , nor creates
heroes of inspires genius on the other.
A university training is the great ordinary means to a great but ordinary end; it
aims at raising the intellectual tone of society, at cultivating the public mind , at
purtying the national teste , at supplying true principles to popular tnthusiasm and
fixed aims to popular aspiration, at giving enlargement and sobriety to the ideas of
age, at facilitating the exercise of political power, and refining the intercourse of
private life.
It is the education which gives a man a clear , conscious view of his own
opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them , an eloquence in expressing them,
and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the
detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him to fill any
post the credit , and to master any subject with facility. It shows him how to
accommodate himself to other, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to
bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding
with them, how to bear with them . By John Henry Newman
FRIENDSHIP MENDING
You can’t take friendship for granted. It always need repair. Cross your two
fingers – and even people close as that can lose touch. They can drift apart.
Friendship is something you can’t buy and can’t command, but you can lose. So it
must be refreshed. At all times, and before too late, it needs refreshment.
To my mind the specific details of repairing friendship are not very important.
Sound friendships consist of many nameless acts. What matters is the intent – the
intent to keep alive something worthy and mutual. This happens when people
remember each other, cultivate each other, meet each other a little more than half way.
Such are the ways in which friendship may be shared.
Nothing on earth is more important, for, just as it has been said that“to lose a
friend is to die a little＂, the reverse is always true, and when you keep a friend you
add something to the worth of life.
By Frank V.Morley.
KEEPING PLEASANT
“He is a fool who cannot be angry, but he is really a wise man who will not.＂
The habit of keeping pleasant is indeed better than an income of a thousand
dollars a year. The life without happiness is the life without the sun.
We all love cheerful company, but we are apt to forget that cheerful company, but
we apt to foget that cheerfulness is a habit which can be cultivated by all.
We find it very difficult to be gay when we are in distress. It requires great
courage. We should never forget that to be cheerful when it is not easy to be cheerful
shows greatness.
Thorny may be our way, but how happy is the conqueror’s song!
The perfection of cheerfulness consist in the happy Frame of mind. It is displayed
in good temper and kind behavior. It arises partly from personal goodness and partly
from belief in the goodness of other. It sees the glory in the grass and the sunshine on
the flower. It encourages happy thoughts, and lives in an atmosphere of peace. It costs
nothing, and yet it is invaluable. It blesses its possessor, and affords a large measure
of enjoyment to others.
LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE IT
Are you dissatisfied with today’s success? It is the harvest from yesterday’s
sowing. Do you dream of a golden morrow? You will reap what you are sowing today.
We get out of life just what we put into it.
Nature takes on our moods: she laughs with those who laugh and weeps with
those who weep. If we rejoices and are glad the very birds sing more sweetly, the
woods and streams murmur our song. But if we are sad and sorrowful, a sudden
gloom falls upon Nature’s face; the sun shines, but not in hearts, the birds sing, but
not to us.
The future will be just what we make it. Our purpose will give it its character.
One’s resolution is one’s prophecy. Leave all your discouraging pessimism behind.
Do not prophesy evil, but good. Men of hope come to the front.
By Orison Swett Marden
MY RULES
As a boy I start a plan to make myself perfect. This plan I kept to all my life. I
enumerated the moral virtues I wanted to acquire in a little book-one to a sheet.
Temperance – Eat not dullness; drink not to elevation.
Silence – Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling
conversation.
Order – Let all your things have their place; let each part of your business have
its time.
Resolution – Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you
resolve.
Frugality – Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste
nothing.
Industry – Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cat off all
unnecessary actions.
Sincerity – Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly.
Moderation – Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think
they deserve.
Tranquillity – Be not disturbed at trifles small thing.
Humility – Imitate Jesus and Socrate.
By Benjamin Franklin
RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR
“I would be true, for there are those who trust me；
I would be pure, for there are those who care；
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer；
I would be brave, for there is much to dare；
I would be a friend to all – for foe – the friendless；
I would be giving, and forget the gift；
I would be humble, for I know my weakness；
I would look up – and laught – and love – lift. ＂
By Howard Walter
HOME
What makes a home? Love and sympathy and comfidence. It is a plsce where
kindly affections exist among all the members of the family. Theparents take good
care of their children, and the children are interested in the activities of their parents.
Thus all of them are bound together by affection, and they find their home to be the
cheeriest place in the world.
A home without love is no more a home than a body without a soul is man. Every
civilized person is a social being. No one should live alone can by no means insure
happiness. Many great personages in the world history had deep attections for their
homes.
Your home may be poor and humble, but your duty lies there. You should try to
make it cheerful and comfortable.The greater the difficulties, the richer will be your
reward.
Ahome is more than a family dwelling. It is a school in which people are trained
for citizenship. A man will not render good service to his country if he can do nothing
good for his home ;for in proportion as he loves his home , will he love his country.
The home is the birthplace of true patriotism. It is the secret of social welfare and
national greatness. It is the basis and origin of civilization.