raise
it the next day. If you have been irritable, indicate it by a
corresponding mark, and redeem yourself on the morrow. If you have
been cowardly where you should have been brave, hesitating where you
should have shown decision, false where you should have been true,
foolish where you should have been wise, tardy where you should have
been prompt; if you have prevaricated where you should have told the
exact truth; if you have taken the advantage where you should have been
fair, have been unjust where you should have been just, impatient where
you should have been patient, cross where you should have been
cheerful, so indicate by your marks. You will find this a great aid to
character building.

It is a subtle and profound remark of Hegel's that the riddle which the
Sphinx, the Egyptian symbol of the mysteriousness of Nature, propounds
to Oedipus is only another way of expressing the command of the Delphic
oracle, "Know thyself." And when the answer is given the Sphinx casts
herself down from her rock. When man knows himself, the mysteriousness
of Nature and her terrors vanish.

The command by the ancient oracle at Delphos is of eternal
significance. Add to it its natural complement--Help thyself--and the
path to success is open to those who obey.

_Guard your weak point_. Moral contagion borrows fully half its
strength from the weakness of its victims. Have you a hot, passionate
temper? If so, a moment's outbreak, like a rat-hole in a dam, may
flood all the work of years. One angry word sometimes raises a storm
that time itself cannot allay. A single angry word has lost many a
friend.

A Quaker was asked by a merchant whom he had conquered by his patience
how he had been able to bear the other's abuse, and replied: "Friend, I
will tell thee. I was naturally as hot and violent as thou art. I
observed that men in a passion always speak loud, and I thought if I
could control my voice I should repress my passion. I have therefore
made it a rule never to let my voice rise above a certain key, and by a
careful observance of this rule, I have, by the blessing of God,
entirely mastered my natural tongue." Mr. Christmas of the Bank of
England explains that the secret of his self-control under very trying
circumstances was due to a rule learned from the great Pitt, never to
lose his temper during banking hours from nine to three.

When Socrates found in himself any disposition to anger, he would check
it