“You recognize more than one kind of success in this world, then?”
“Yes; we can’t all be presidents of the United States. Any man is
successful who does well what comes to his hand, and who works to
improve himself so that he may do better. The man with the ideal,
struggling to carry it out, is the successful man. Of course, there
are all grades of ideals, and the man with the highest, given the
proportionate energy, is the most successful. The world makes way for
that kind of young man.”
“Do you consider that happiness in the successful man consists in
reflecting over what he has done or what he may do?”
“I should say that it consists in both. No man who has accomplished
a great deal could sit down and fold his hands. The enjoyment of
life would be instantly gone if you removed the possibility of doing
something. When through with his individual affairs, a man wants a
wider field, and of course that can only be in public affairs. Whether
the beginner believes it or not, he will find that he cannot drop
interest in life at the end, whatever he may think about it in the
beginning.”
“The aim of the young man of to-day should be, then—?”
“To do something worth doing, honestly. Get wealth, if it is gotten in
the course of an honorable public service. I think, however, the best
thing to get is the means of doing good, and then doing it.”