It is very certain that no man is fit for everything; but it is almost
as certain too that there is scarce any one man who is not fit for
something, which something nature plainly points out to him by giving
him a tendency and propensity to it. I look upon common-sense to be to
the mind what conscience is to the heart,--the faithful and constant
monitor of what is right or wrong. And I am convinced that no man
commits either a crime or a folly but against the manifest and sensible
representations of the one or the other. Every man finds in himself,
either from nature or education,--for they are hard to distinguish,--a
peculiar bent and disposition to some particular character; and his
struggling against it is the fruitless and endless labor of Sisyphus.
Let him follow and cultivate that vocation, he will succeed in it, and
be considerable in one way at least; whereas if he departs from it he
will at best be inconsiderable, probably ridiculous.