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 — John Shaqi
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
The pleasure derived by the musical ear exceeds the work and practice
required to become a skilled musician.
]
In the great game of grab after money, which is enthralling the earth at
the present time, the man who dares takes no part except to see that his
compensation is adequate to his efficiency. His abnegation of the canker
worm of gold is a strong recommendation in his favor, and brings him
much more than it does to one who bites every dollar to test its
genuineness. He becomes renowned for this disposition, and nobody turns
him down on any proposition for everybody knows that his disposition is
to dare, to venture, to try, to win, to succeed. It is the best sort of
renown to possess; it is a policy, really a dare.
He knows that everything comes to him who knows how to wait, and he
plays the waiting game in a diplomatic manner, so diplomatic, indeed,
that he wins.
=The man who dares may scale the walls of Paradise to gain a crown of
eternal glory.= Nobody can slide through St. Peter’s gate unobserved. It
requires a constant fight to reach it even, and blessed is he who gets
that far, for he is sure to enter. We have it from the Saviour Himself:
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
There is authority, therefore, for saying that the man who dares may
scale the walls of Paradise. The fact is, that a mollycoddle cannot be
connected with the idea of taking the kingdom of heaven by force. It
requires a man who dares to accomplish that feat, and it is the man who
dares that gets there.
Let us suppose that you are a timid man and have little initiative—that
is you are a follower of somebody and can not lead in anything. You must
raise some steam and get a move on or you will never succeed. That is a
settled fact, and if you to whom this is addressed, can not raise enough
steam to start out on a dare, why then, fall out and let somebody else
take your place in the waiting line.
Suppose you wanted to make a stagger at a dare, how would you go about
it! That’s about the idea you are after. Well, in the first place, you
must make ready. You can not ride without a horse, and even if you have
a horse, he is no good to you unless you know how to ride. To learn to
ride, you must get on the horse, of course, and take your chances of
being thrown or of falling off through sheer fright.
That is nothing. A few bruises are honorable scars in the onward
struggle. Let us start you our way:
=Fix your mind on what you aim at and never lose sight of it. It is your
target.=
=Fix a straight road toward it. This will enable you to get there
sooner, and if there are competitors, you will out-distance them.=