Think Not Of Yourself As The Architect

How Many Men I Know Who Are Earning Dollars Aplenty, But Who Are Really Earning Little Of What Counts. They Are So Overwhelmingly Engrossed In Business That They Get Nothing From Their Dollars. The Juggernaut Of Dollar-making Has Crushed Out Of Them Every Capacity For Genuine Enjoyment, Every Grace, Every Unselfish Sentiment And Instinct.

A Young Financial Writer Once Brought Ridicule Upon Himself By Stating That A Certain Company Had Nothing To Commend It Except Excellent Earnings. Well, There Are Companies Whose Earnings Are Excellent But Whose Stocks I Would Never Recommend. In Selecting Investments, I Attach Prime Importance To The Men Behind Them. I'd Rather Buy Brains And Character Than Earnings. Earnings Can Be Good One Year And Poor The Next. But If You Put Your Money Into Securities Run By Men Combining Conspicuous Brains And Unimpeachable Character, The Likelihood Is That The Financial Results Will Prove Satisfactory.

Think Not Of Yourself As The Architect Of Your Career But As The Sculptor. Expect To Have To Do A Lot Of Hard Hammering And Chiselingand Scraping And Polishing.

When You Delve Deep Enough, You Find That Practically Every Great Fortune And Great Enterprise In America Have Sprung From The Courageous Enterprise Of Some Individual. It Was Commodore Vanderbilt's Enterprise In Switching First From Running A Ferryboat To Running Other Ships, And Then, When He Was Well Along In Years, His Enterprise In Switching Into Railroading, That Created What Was To Become One Of The Most Notable Fortunes In The History Of The World.

Vitally Important For A Young Man Or Woman Is, First, To Realize The Value Of Education And Then To Cultivate Earnestly, Aggressively, Ceaselessly, The Habit Of Self-education.