It is not eminent talent that is required to ensure success in any pursuit, so much as purpose-not merely the power to achieve, but the will to labour energetically and perseveringly. Hence energy of will may be defined to be the very central power of character in a man-in a word, it is the Man himself.

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.

Riches do not constitute any claim to distinction. It is only the vulgar who admire riches as riches.

Obedience, submission, discipline, courage--these are among the characteristics which make a man.

Nothing of real worth can be obtained without courageous working. Man owes his growth chiefly to the active striving of the will, that encounter with difficulty which he calls effort; and it is astonishing to find how often results apparently impracticable are then made possible.

Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession -a property entirely our own.

Opportunities ... fall in the way of every man who is resolved to take advantage of them.