“Do not make riches, but usefulness, your first aim, and let your chief
pride by that your daily occupation is in the line of progress and
development; that your work, in whatever capacity it may be, is useful
work, honestly conducted, and as such ennobles your life.
“Whatever your salary be, save a little; live within your means. The man
who saves a little from his income has given the surest indication of
the very qualities that every employer is seeking for.
“The great successes of life are made by concentration. Do not think you
have done your full duty when you have performed the work assigned you.
You will never rise if you only do this.
“You hear a good deal about poverty nowadays, and the cry goes up to
abolish poverty, but it will be the saddest day of civilization when
poverty is no longer with us. It is from the soil of poverty that all
the virtues spring. Without poverty, where will your inventor, your
artist, your philanthropist, come from?
“There are three classes of young men in the world. One starts out to be
a millionaire. Another seeks reputation, perhaps at the cannon’s mouth.
A third young man, who will be successful, is he who starts out in life
with self-respect and who is true to himself and his fellow-men. He
cannot fail to win.”