The Highest Culture Is Not Obtained From

It Is A Grand Old Name, That Of Gentleman, And Has Been Recognized As A Rank And Power In All Stages Of Society. To Possess This Character Is A Dignity Of Itself, Commanding The Instinctive Homage Of Every Generous Mind, And Those Who Will Not Bow To Titular Rank Will Yet Do Homage To The Gentleman. His Qualities Depend Not Upon Fashion Or Manners, But Upon Moral Worth; Not On Personal Possessions, But On Personal Qualities.

Mere Political Reform Will Not Cure The Manifold Evils Which Now Afflict Society. There Requires A Social Reform, A Domestic Reform, An Individual Reform.

Though An Inheritance Of Acres May Be Bequeathed, An Inheritance Of Knowledge And Wisdom Cannot. The Wealthy Man May Pay Others For Doing His Work For Him; But It Is Impossible To Get His Thinking Done For Him By Another, Or To Purchase Any Kind Of Self-culture.

Imitation Is For The Most Part So Unconscious That Its Effects Are Almost Unheeded, But Its Influence Is Not The Less Permanent On That Account. It Is Only When An Impressive Nature Is Placed In Contact With An Impressionable One That The Alteration In The Character Becomes Recognizable. Yet Even The Weakest Natures Exercise Some Influence Upon Those About Them. The Approximation Of Feeling, Thought, And Habit Is Constant, And The Action Of Example Unceasing.

It Is A Mistake To Suppose That Men Succeed Through Success; They Much Oftener Succeed Through Failures. Precept, Study, Advice, And Example Could Never Have Taught Them So Well As Failure Has Done.