Genius levels mountains, spans rivers, causes wildernesses
to blossom, links together with electric chains the ends of
the earth. The gifted man cares not for difficulties; like a
mountain torrent, he gains momentum from every obstacle; a
master athlete, he throws the world. Masters of circumstance
in many directions, but how soon we succumb to circumstance
when it relates to character! He who is triumphantly strong
in other directions is helpless here; he who heroically and
magnificently succeeds in fortune ignobly fails in morals.
He who successfully battles with circumstances to become a
scholar is vanquished by fleshly desires; he who becomes rich
in the teeth of circumstances is then mastered and degraded by
his riches; he who surmounts circumstances to become great,
immediately falls a victim to luxury and pride. Men make a grand
fight with a circumstance in the kingdoms of nature and society,
but a sorry light with circumstances as these menace the kingdom
of the spirit; they fail most where it is exactly most desirable
that they should succeed.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The
Transfigured Sackcloth.”
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