The man of business also must needs be subject to strict rule and
system. Business, like life, is managed by moral leverage; success in
both depending in no small degree upon that regulation of temper and
careful self-discipline, which give a wise man not only a command over
himself, but over others. Forbearance and self-control smooth the road
of life, and open many ways which would otherwise remain closed. And so
does self-respect: for as men respect themselves, so will they usually
respect the personality of others.
It is the same in politics as in business. Success in that sphere of
life is achieved less by talent than by temper, less by genius than by
character. If a man have not self-control, he will lack patience, be
wanting in tact, and have neither the power of governing himself nor of
managing others. When the quality most needed in a Prime Minister was
the subject of conversation in the presence of Mr. Pitt, one of the
speakers said it was "Eloquence;" another said it was "Knowledge;" and
a third said it was "Toil," "No," said Pitt, "it is Patience!" And
patience means self-control, a quality in which he himself was superb.
His friend George Rose has said of him that he never once saw Pitt out
of temper. [153] Yet, although patience is usually regarded as a "slow"
virtue, Pitt combined with it the most extraordinary readiness, vigour,
and rapidity of thought as well as action.
It is by patience and self-control that the truly heroic character is
perfected. These were among the most prominent characteristics of the
great Hampden, whose noble qualities were generously acknowledged even
by his political enemies. Thus Clarendon described him as a man of rare
temper and modesty, naturally cheerful and vivacious, and above all, of
a flowing courtesy. He was kind and intrepid, yet gentle, of unblameable
conversation, and his heart glowed with love to all men. He was not a
man of many words, but, being of unimpeachable character, every word
he uttered carried weight. "No man had ever a greater power over
himself.... He was very temperate in diet, and a supreme governor over
all his passions and affections; and he had thereby great power over
other men's." Sir Philip Warwick, another of his political opponents,
incidentally describes his great influence in a certain debate: "We had
catched at each other's locks, and sheathed our swords in each other's
bowels, had not the sagacity and great calmness of Mr. Hampden, by a
short speech, prevented it, and led us to defer our angry debate until
the next morning."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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