Publisher's Synopsis
You will find in these pages much of your own genial and kindly wisdom allied to a certain philosophy of my own. How much of this latter springs from the inspiration with which you have furnished me you may guess for yourself. Those who have such a friend as I have will appreciate his help and encouragement the more for reading this book, which, because you have thus helped me to write it, I inscribe with your name.Your very sincereKEITH J. THOMAS."BE not afraid of greatness, '' says Shakespeare.'' Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. '' Which are you? I will tell you. You were born great; you can achieve greatness if you will; and if you go about it the right way, you will have greatness thrust upon you. The mistake so many people make is to confuse greatness with riches. The great man can have all he wants, but he need not necessarily become rich. Carlyle was no more intended to be a millionaire than Andrew Carnegie was made to be a Milton. We cannot all be Nelsons, or Pitts, or Shakespeares, or Darwins, or Rockefellers, but we can all be great. If we want money we can get it, if we -want power we can get it: the only condition being that we should want it badly enough. Whatever our desire is, we must be prepared to give up all pleasure and all ease to attain it. Fortune is a hard mistress and will brook no rivals, but to the man who is prepared to serve her whole-heartedly she offers the sure promise of his heart's desire.When we look back over the pages of history and scan the records of the world's most successful men, we find that there is not so much wonder when a man rises from penury to supreme heights as when a man with wealth and influence does so.All the experience of the world goes to show that the lower down a man is on the ladder of fortune, the more likely is he to rise. The reason is that the rich man has so many distractions, and, more than this, does not have the same hard experiences which develop character and brain.As soon as a man makes up his mind that he will do something with his life, he changes over from a state of drift to one of action. It is easy to drift, but it is better to struggle, for the current of life drags men on to the rocks and into shallows unless they map their course along the right channels where the deep waters are that will bear them to their harbor.
