The virtue and the glory of
industry cannot be presented too often to the young. I know of no
worldly good or human excellence that can be attained without it; nor is
there any inherited possession of name, or wealth, or position, that can
be preserved in its extent and quality without active, systematic,
judicious labor.
It is not necessary to consider industry as habitual diligence in a
pursuit, manual or intellectual; but rather as a judicious arrangement
of business and recreation, so as always to have time for the necessary
duties of life. Mere diligence is not industry in a good sense; it is
labor in a bad sense. Our time should be systematically appropriated to
our employments, and each measure of time should be equal to the work or
duty appointed for it. Moreover, each work or duty should be
accomplished in its appointed time; and this can be secured only by a
strong will. The power of will admits of education, culture,
improvement, as much as any faculty of the mind or quality of
character. A fickle, planless life cannot accomplish much. System in
our plans, and firmness of will in their execution, will place us beyond
the reach of ordinary disasters; yet how often do young men go through a
course of school studies without a plan, even for the moment, and enter
upon life the slaves of chance, the victims of what they call fortune,
while they might by industry, system and firmness of will, rise superior
to circumstances, and extort a measure of success not unworthy of a
noble ambition!
Idleness is a wasting disease, a consuming fire, a destroying demon; in
youth it is a calamity, in the vigor of manhood it is a disgrace and a
sin, and in old age it can be honorably accepted only as the symbol of
reflective leisure earned by a life of industry and virtue.
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