Youth is the time to work for success.
Old age is the winter time of life and if no provision has been made to
acquire a competence before that period, it will be an unhappy time,
perhaps a miserable existence as the result.
Success has no tomorrow, it is always today, and if the sun of today
sets upon failure, it can not be hoped that it will rise tomorrow upon
success, there being nothing to cause it to do so.
There is no greater duty to be performed by man than to lay by provision
for the future. Even the animals prepare for a rainy day, the worst
specimens are those who neglect this instinct.
It is an instinct, the instinct of self-preservation.
Experience demonstrates, in fact, it has become an axiom of science,
that after a certain age, a man is incompetent to perform his duties in
as profitable a manner as before.
Some fix the age at forty years, while others say that a man has reached
the fullness of his capacity at the age of fifty years.
It depends, of course, upon your employment, as to that. When a man’s
occupation consists of hard physical labor, he should have acquired
enough to carry him over during the rest of his life, by the time he has
reached the age of fifty years.
It is certain in business and trade circles, that a man need not look
for employment as a skilled laborer after the age of forty-five years.
The body wears out after years of toil, or years of idleness—which is
the same thing—and the mental vigor lessens materially.
For this reason, you will become worn out before attaining success,
unless you spend your time of youth in attaining it.