Success | Page 3

famous; play it three times a day and you

will be in danger of being thought a professional--without the reward.
The pursuit of pleasure is equally ephemeral. Time and experience rob
even amusement of its charm, and the night before is not worth next
morning's headache. Practical success alone makes early middle-age
the most pleasurable period of a man's career. What has been worked
for in youth then comes to its fruition.
It is true that brains alone are not influence, and that money alone is not
influence, but brains and money combined are power. And fame, the
other object of ambition, is only another name for either money or
power.
Never was there a moment more favourable for turning talent towards
opportunity and opportunity into triumph than Great Britain now
presents to the man or woman whom ambition stirs to make a success
of life. The dominions of the British Empire abolished long ago the
privileges which birth confers. No bar has been set there to prevent
poverty rising to the heights of wealth and power, if the man were
found equal to the task.
The same development has taken place in Great Britain to-day. Men are
no longer born into Cabinets; the ladder of education is rapidly
reaching a perfection which enables a man born in a cottage or a slum
attaining the zenith of success and power.
There stand the three attributes to be attained--Judgment, Industry, and
Health. Judgment can be improved, industry can be acquired, health
can be attained by those who will take the trouble. These are the three
pillars on which we can build the golden pinnacle of success.

II
HAPPINESS: THREE SECRETS
Near by the Temple of Success based on the three pillars of Health,
Industry, and Judgment, stands another temple. Behind the curtains of
its doors is concealed the secret of happiness.
There are, of course, many forms of that priceless gift. Different
temperaments will interpret it differently. Various experiences will
produce variations of the blessing. A man may make a failure in his
affairs and yet remain happy. The spiritual and inner life is a thing apart
from material success. Even a man who, like Robert Louis Stevenson,
suffers from chronic ill-health can still be happy.

But we must leave out these exceptions and deal with the normal man,
who lives by and for his practical work, and who desires and enjoys
both success and health. Granted that he has these two possessions,
must he of necessity be happy? Not so. He may have access to the first
temple, but the other temple may still be forbidden him. A rampant
ambition can be a torture to him. An exaggerated selfishness can make
his life miserable, or an uneasy conscience may join with the sins of
pride to take their revenge on his mentality. For the man who has
attained success and health there are three great rules: "To do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly." These are the three pillars of
the Temple of Happiness.
Justice, which is another word for honesty in practice and in intention,
is perhaps the easiest of the virtues for the successful man of affairs to
acquire. His experience has schooled him to something more profound
than the acceptance of the rather crude dictum that "Honesty is the best
policy"--which is often interpreted to mean that it is a mistake to go to
gaol. But real justice must go far beyond a mere fear of the law, or even
a realisation that it does not pay to indulge in sharp practice in business.
It must be a mental habit--a fixed intention to be fair in dealing with
money or politics, a natural desire to be just and to interpret all bargains
and agreements in the spirit as well as in the letter.
The idea that nearly all successful men are unscrupulous is very
frequently accepted. To the man who knows, the doctrine is simply
foolish. Success is not the only or the final test of character, but it is the
best rough-and-ready reckoner. The contrary view that success
probably implies a moral defect springs from judging a man by the
opinions of his rivals, enemies, or neighbours. The real judges of a
man's character are his colleagues. If they speak well of him, there is
nothing much wrong. The failure, on the other hand, can always be sure
of being popular with the men who have beaten him. They give him a
testimonial instead of a cheque. It would be too curious a speculation to
pursue to ask whether Justice, like the other virtues, is not a form of
self-interest. To answer it in the affirmative would condemn equally the
doctrines of the Sermon on the Mount and the advice to do unto others