* * *

When you hear that a man has taken such and such a resolution, take it
for granted, when you feel ready to criticise him, that you are not the
only person in the world who knows what he is about.

* * *

The most valuable gift of nature to man is not talent, not even genius,
but temperament and character. If you have both talent and character,
the world will belong to you, if you succeed in making talent the
servant, and not the master, of your character.

* * *

The successful man is not the one who seeks opportunities, but the one
who knows how to seize them by the forelock when they present
themselves. The great diplomatist is not the one who creates events, but
the one who foresees them and knows best how to profit by them.

* * *

A man may be very clever without being very successful. This happens
when he has more talent than character; but when a man is very
successful, never be jealous of him, for you may take it for absolutely
granted that he possesses qualities which account for his success.

* * *

Envy is the worst of evils, the one that pays least, because it never
excites pity in the breast of anyone, and because it causes you to waste
lots of time concerning yourself about other people's business instead
of spending it all minding your own.

* * *

Watch your children most carefully, for when they are ten or twelve
years of age you may detect in them signs of defects, or even vices,
which, if developed, instead of checked at once, may prove to be their
ruin.

* * *

The key to success in life is the knowledge of value of all things.

* * *

It often requires a head more solidly screwed on the shoulders to bear a
great success than to stand a great misfortune.

* * *

The knowledge of the most insignificant thing is worth having.

CHAPTER II

DO THE BEST WITH THE HAND YOU HAVE

It would be absurd to say that there is no such thing as luck. Of
course, there is luck, and fortunate is the man who knows how to seize
it at once by the forelock.

For instance, it is luck to be born handsome, strong, and healthy; it is
luck to be born rich, or of generous parents who spend a little fortune
in giving you a first-class education.

What is absurd, however, is to say that you are always unlucky. You
cannot always be unlucky any more than you can always be lucky. When a
man says to you, 'I am p