Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season,
not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that
which can be done just as well now. The old proverb is full of truth and
meaning, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." Many
a man acquires a fortune by doing his business thoroughly, while his
neighbor remains poor for life, because he only half does it. Ambition,
energy, industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success
in business.
Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help
himself. It won't do to spend your time like Mr. Micawber, in waiting
for something to "turn up." To such men one of two things usually "turns
up:" the poorhouse or the jail; for idleness breeds bad habits, and
clothes a man in rags. The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man:
"I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us,
if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy
together."
"But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent
in two months, and what would you do then?"
"Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"
I was recently reading in a London paper an account of a like
philosophic pauper who was kicked out of a cheap boarding-house because
he could not pay his bill, but he had a roll of papers sticking out
of his coat pocket, which, upon examination, proved to be his plan for
paying off the national debt of England without the aid of a penny.
People have got to do as Cromwell said: "not only trust in Providence,
but keep the powder dry." Do your part of the work, or you cannot
succeed. Mahomet, one night, while encamping in the desert, overheard
one of his fatigued followers remark: "I will loose my camel, and trust
it to God!" "No, no, not so," said the prophet, "tie thy camel, and
trust it to God!" Do all you can for yourselves, and then trust to
Providence, or luck, or whatever you please to call it, for the rest.