Men are like timber. Oak will bear a stress that pine won’t,
but there never was a stick of timber on the earth that could
not be broken at some pressure. There never was a man born
on the earth that could not be broken at some pressure--not
always the same nor put in the same place. There is many a
man who can not be broken by money pressure, but who can be
by pressure of flattery. There is many a man impervious to
flattery who is warped and biased by his social inclinations.
There is many a man whom you can not tempt with red gold, but
you can with dinners and convivialities. One way or the other,
every man is vincible. There is a great deal of meaning in
that simple portion of the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into
temptation.”--HENRY WARD BEECHER.
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