th the resolution to make his character
his capital, and to pledge his whole manhood for every obligation he
enters into, will not be a failure, though he wins neither fame nor
fortune. No man ever really does a great thing who loses his character
in the process.

No substitute has ever yet been discovered for honesty. Multitudes of
people have gone to the wall trying to find one. Our prisons are full
of people who have attempted to substitute something else for it.

No man can really believe in himself when he is occupying a false
position and wearing a mask; when the little monitor within him is
constantly saying, "You know you are a fraud; you are not the man you
pretend to be." The consciousness of not being genuine, not being what
others think him to be, robs a man of power, honeycombs the character,
and destroys self-respect and self-confidence.

When Lincoln was asked to take the wrong side of a case he said, "I
could not do it. All the time while talking to that jury I should be
thinking, 'Lincoln, you're a liar, you're a liar,' and I believe I
should forget myself and say it out loud."

Character as capital is very much underestimated by a great number of
young men. They seem to put more emphasis upon smartness, shrewdness,
long-headedness, cunning, influence, a pull, than upon downright
honesty and integrity of character. Yet why do scores of concerns pay
enormous sums for the use of the name of a man who, perhaps, has been
dead for half a century or more? It is because there is power in that
name; because there is character in it; because it stands for
something; because it represents reliability and square dealing. Think
of what the name of Tiffany, of Park and Tilford, or any of the great
names which stand in the commercial world as solid and immovable as the
rock of Gibraltar, are worth!

Does it not seem strange that young men who know these facts should try
to build up a business on a foundation of cunning, scheming, and
trickery, instead of building on the solid rock of character,
reliability, and manhood? Is it not remarkable that so many men should
work so hard to establish a business on an unreliable, flimsy
foundation, instead of building upon the solid masonry of honest goods,
square dealing, reliability?

A name is worth everything until it is questioned; but when suspicion
clings to it, it is worth nothing. There is nothing in this world that
will take the place of character. T