Progress and Achievements of the Colored People: Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success
John Stuart Mill · en
There are many who have the strength of purpose and the will power to
utilize the forces of mind and body within them, and develop themselves
with the aid of that power.
Their examples are an illustration of a higher education that really
educates.
The man or woman who sits with folded hands waiting for someone to help
him, or for something to turn up or come his way, so that he can seize
upon it without trouble or labor, is too far gone in uselessness in the
present age to be worth trying to lift up.
We are all interdependent in this world of business, but must not
imagine that because we must live with and do business with others, that
we can depend solely upon those others. Every man must stand upon his
own ability and exertions.
The men who do this succeed through self-help, self-reliance,
self-knowledge, and self-sufficiency. The greatest men in history are
those who worked themselves up from humble surroundings and against
tremendous odds. It is always the brain that conceives the thought, and
the strong arm that executes the mandates of the thought. Where the
physical arm is not strong enough, the brain quickly conceives a method
of supplying the difficulty.
It was the boast of the philosopher Archimedes that he could move the
world if he could find a fulcrum for his lever. The modern man is so far
advanced that he finds a fulcrum for his lever, and if he does not move
the earth, he moves a large part of it.
If we take the pains to look about us, we shall find every avenue of
human endeavor occupied by self-made men. These men originated in the
most humble surroundings, but lifted themselves up through the sheer
force of their own energy of character and vital force backed by
persistence.
The history of the world has pages about the men who sprang up from
humble sources and amid the greatest difficulties. They overcame them
somehow, some say by the aid of Providence, but we know that it was
through innate courage, brains, energy and persistence.
Every man may raise himself up by his own efforts, indeed, the man who
uses another as his ladder will soon find himself leaning on a broken
reed, and amount to very little in this world of struggle and
competition.
Who knows better what a man can do than the man himself? There are
always hidden sources of strength in every man, and he alone is able to
bring them into use. Remember one point in this age of competition:
Learn how to do things, and then set about doing them of your own
accord. The man who waits to be pushed ahead seldom finds any pushers.
This is the wisdom of experience, and will =not= bear argument, so true
it is.