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I love the good that others do; for their activity is an assurance that whether I can help or not, the true and the good will stand sure.
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I love the good that others do; for their activity is an assurance that whether I can help or not, the true and the good will stand sure.
Then love came and set my soul free.
My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to coöperate with the good, that it may prevail.
In the midst of my perplexity I read an essay of Stevenson which made me feel as if I had been "outing" in the sunshine, instead of losing heart over a difficult task. I tried again with new courage and succeeded almost before I knew it.
But during the first nineteen months of my life I had caught glimpses of broad, green fields, a luminous sky, trees and flowers which the darkness that followed could not wholly blot out.
Then comes hope with a smile and whispers, "There is joy in self-forgetfulness." So I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness.
Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
You wrote with no thoughts of fame and money, and put your heart into it, my daughter. You have had the bitter, now comes the sweet. Do your best, and grow as happy as we are in your success.
You mayn’t get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them.
And, Leslie, I can’t help believing that life has something good and beautiful for you yet.
It is never too late to recognize truth and to live by it.
Living at one's best is constant preparation for instant use.
The honest, faithful struggler should always realize that failure is but an episode in a true man's life,--never the whole story.
The knell of lost opportunity is never tolled in this life.
Every moment of life he is changing to a degree the life of the whole world.
No individual is so insignificant as to be without influence.
The only responsibility that a man cannot evade in this life is the one he thinks of least,--his personal influence.
There are men and women whose presence seems to radiate sunshine, cheer and optimism.
To make our influence felt we must live our faith, we must practice what we believe.
Trifles unnoted by us may be links in the chain of some great purpose.
We should ever let our influence filter through human love and sympathy.
We should not be merely an influence,--we should be an inspiration.
Seek Yahweh and his strength. Seek his face forever more.
Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place.
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