When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan our journey too far ahead. No need to burden ourselves with doubts and fears as to the obstacles that may bar our progress. We cannot take more than one step at a time. Whatever our creed, we feel that no good deed can by any possibility go unrewarded, no evil deed unpunished. We cannot rise higher than our thought of ourselves. Unless you are prepared yourself to profit by your chance, the opportunity will only make you ridiculous. A great occasion is valuable to you in proportion as you have educated yourself to make use of it. To many a man, and sometimes to a youth, there comes the opportunity to choose between honorable competence and tainted wealth. The young man who starts out to be poor and honorable, holds in his hand one of the strongest elements of success. This is the test of your manhood: How much is there left in you after you have lost everything outside of yourself? This force, which is the best thing in you, your highest self, will never respond to any ordinary half-hearted call, or any milk-and-water endeavor. It can only be reached by your supremest call, your supremest effort. It will respond only to the call that is backed up by the whole of you, not part of you; you must be all there in what you are trying to do. You must bring every particle of your energy, unanswerable resolution, your best efforts, your persistent industry to your task or the best will not come out of you. You must back up your ambition by your whole nature, by unbounded enthusiasm and a determination to win which knows no failure... Only a masterly call, a masterly will, a supreme effort, intense and persistent application, can unlock the door to your inner treasure and release your highest powers. There is something greater than wealth, grander even than fame. Manhood and character stand for success - nothing else really does. There is only one thing for us to do, and that is to do our level best right where we are every day of our lives. To use our best judgment, and then to trust the rest to that Power which holds the forces of the universe in his hands. There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow. | 
