very
argument on one side and then on the other, and weighs them until the
two sides hang in equipoise, with no prepondering motive to enable him
to decide. He is in stable equilibrium, and so does not move at all of
his own volition, but moves very easily at the slightest volition of
another.

Yet there is not a man living who might not be a prompt and decided man
if he would only learn always to act quickly. The punctual man, the
decided man, can do twice as much as the undecided and dawdling man who
never quite knows what he wants. Prompt decision saved Napoleon and
Grant and their armies many a time when delay would have been fatal.
Napoleon used to say that although a battle might last an entire day,
yet it generally turned upon a few critical minutes, in which the fate
of the engagement was decided. His will, which subdued nearly the
whole of Europe, was as prompt and decisive in the minutest detail of
command as in the greatest battle.

Decision of purpose and promptness of action enabled him to astonish
the world with his marvelous successes. He seemed to be everywhere at
once. What he could accomplish in a day surprised all who knew him.
He seemed to electrify everybody about him. His invincible energy
thrilled the whole army. He could rouse to immediate and enthusiastic
action the dullest troops, and inspire with courage the most stupid
men. The "ifs and buts," he said, "are at present out of season; and
above all it must be done with speed." He would sit up all night if
necessary, after riding thirty or forty leagues, to attend to
correspondence, dispatches and, details. What a lesson to dawdling,
shiftless, half-hearted men!

"The doubt of Charles V.," says Motley, "changed the destinies of the
civilized world."

So powerful were President Washington's views in determining the
actions of the people, that when Congress adjourned, Jefferson wrote to
Monroe at Paris: "You will see by their proceedings the truth of what I
always told you,--namely, that one man outweighs them all in influence,
who supports his judgment against their own and that of their
representatives. Republicanism resigns the vessel to the pilot."

There is no vocation or occupation which does not present many
difficulties, at times almost overwhelming, and the young man who
allows himself to waver every time he comes to a hard place in life
will not succeed. Without decision there can be no concentration; and,
to succeed,