The Young Man and the World | Page 4

one of the best evidences
that you will finally prevail.
Yes, put yourself into your work--and put all of yourself into your work.
Having done that, be content with your effort--do not fret. If all you do
yields the fruit you hope for, do not fret while that fruit is ripening. On
the other hand, if your labor comes to nothing, still do not fret. A like
fate has fallen upon uncounted millions before you and will come to
unnumbered myriads after you. If you have done your best you have
done better than the man who has done more than you but who has not
done his best.
And so, whatever the outcome, start out with this rule and keep it to the
end. For nothing wastes your powers so much as apprehension. The
hardest work, if done with common sense, is after all a tonic. But fear
lest that work will not yield you as much as you wish is a sort of
irritating cocaine of character, numbing and deadening all of your
powers and at the same time lashing your mind and nerves with the
knotted thongs of unhappiness. Besides, fretting is so trivial, so little,
so commonplace. Fail if you must, but do not be contemptible.
He who worries not only poisons the very fountains of his own strength
but arouses in the world's attitude toward him a sort of sneering pity. So
the very first thing that I have to suggest to you is that you should be a
man in all your doings and throughout your whole career.
That is it--be a man; a great, strong, willing, kindly man--calm in the
glory of a fearless heart, serene in your trust and belief in God, the

Father of the world, and so sure of the justice of His providence that
you go about your daily business free from those silly cares which
corrode and ruin manhood itself.
Be a man--that is the first and the last rule of the greatest success in life.
For the greatest success in life does not mean dollars heaped in
bank-vaults nor volumes written, nor railroads built, nor laws devised,
nor armies led. No, the greatest success is none of these. The supreme
success is character.
Pay no attention to mere spiteful criticism, but seek, as for gold and
precious stones, the chastening advice of friends. Do not be offended if
your friends say an unpleasant thing of you. And here we are at the
Bible again: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an
enemy are deceitful."
These recurrences to what those wise old Hebrews said make one feel
that one is committing a superfluity when one attempts to say anything
along the line of practical advice, since anything that any man can say
is nothing more than a very weak dilution of the concentrated thought
of the most acute minds of the greatest business people, the most
successful material people--yes, and the most idealistic people--who
ever lived, the ancient, the mysterious, the persistent Jews.
This is saying much for the Hebrew blood and genius; but have not
these Jews given us our moral laws, our spiritual ideals, our sacred faith?
Not only the bankers of the world are they, but the formulators of the
rules of conduct between man and man, and of that adoring attitude
which the enlightened mind should always maintain toward the
All-Father. The Jews are the universal people.
If you like ethnology, study the Jews. Study the Germans, too. What
peoples they both are--utterly unlike, yet full of the inspiration of
thoughts and deeds and persistence. Persistence--there is a word of
might it will pay you to ponder over.
Persistence--"stick-to-it-ive-ness." It is a quality better than genius. The
Germans have that quality preeminently, and other wholesome and

masterful characteristics as well. They are domestic yet warlike,
industrial yet artistic, experts in commerce yet disciples of science.
Study the Germans!
Though you must not fear criticism, do not disregard it. You may find a
suggestion in it, and thus your enemy will become your counselor. But
applause! Fly from the desire for it as from pestilence. It will weaken
you infinitely. And to a strong man achievement is the only applause of
value--the making of his point.
Many years ago I heard this story of Bismarck. If it is not true, it ought
to be. And if it is not true specifically, it is true abstractly. He had just
returned from one of his notable diplomatic victories at the beginning
of his career; great crowds had assembled for a speech.
Bismarck heard it all, but smoked and drank his beer and gave no sign.
His secretary rushed in with excitement, and said:
"You must go out and acknowledge the applause of the people,