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Chapter twenty nine. Right thinking and
personality. Quote Whatever crushes individuality is despotism,

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by whatever name it may be called. Unquote John Stuart Mill on liberty.

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Quote. Right thinking fits for complete
living by developing the power to appreciate

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the beautiful in nature and art,
power to think the true and to will

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the good, power to live the
life of thought and faith and hope and

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love. Unquote NC. Schaffer,
thinking and learning to think. The speaker's

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most valuable possession is personality, That
indefinable, imponderable, something which sums up

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what we are and makes us different
from others, That distinctive force of self,

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which operates appreciably on those whose lives
we touch. It is personality alone

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that makes us long for higher things, rob us of our sense of individual

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life, with its gains and losses, its duties and joys, and we

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grovel. Quote. Few human creatures, said John Stuart Mill, will consent

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to be changed into any of the
lower animals for a promise of the fullest

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allowance of a beast's pleasures. No
intelligent human being would consent to be a

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fool. No instructed person would be
an ignoramus, No person of feeling and

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conscience would be selfish and base,
even though he should be persuaded that the

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fall, or the dunce or the
rascal is better satisfied with his lot than

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they were theirs. It is better
to be a human being dissatisfied than a

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pig satisfied, better to be a
Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And

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if the fall or the pig is
of a different opinion, it is only

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because they know only their own side
of the question. The other party to

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the comparison knows both sides unquote.
Now it is precisely because the Socrates type

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of person lives on the plan of
right thinking and restrain, feeling and willing,

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as he prefers his state to that
of the animal. All that a

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man is, all his happiness,
his sorrow, his achievements, his failures,

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his magnetism, his weakness, all
are in an amazingly large measure,

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the direct results of his thinking,
thought, and heart combine to produce right

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thinking. As a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he as he

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does not think in his heart,
so he can never become. Since this

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is true, personality can be developed
and its latent powers brought out by careful

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cultivation. We have long since ceased
to believe that we're living in a realm

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of chance, so clear and exact
a nature's laws that we forecast scores of

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years in advance the appearance of a
certain comet, and foretell to the minute

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an eclipse of the sun. And
we understand this law of cause and effect

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in all our material realms. We
do not plant potatoes and expect to pluck

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hyacinths. The law is universal.
It applies to our mental powers, to

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morality, to personality, quite as
much as to the heavenly bodies and the

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grain of the fields. Whatsoever a
man soweth that shall he also reap,

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and nothing else. Character has always
been regarded as one of the chief factors

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of the speaker's power. Cato defined
the orator as were bonus stichendi peritus,

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a good man skilled in speaking.
Phillips Brooks says, quote, nobody can

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truly stand as an utterer before the
world unless he be profoundly living and earnestly

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thinking une quote. Character, says
Emerson, is a natural power, like

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light and heat, and all nature
cooperates with it. The reason why we

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feel one man's presence and do not
feel another's is as simple as gravity.

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Truth is the summit of being,
justice as the application of it to affairs.

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All individual natures stand in a scale
according to the purity of this element

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in them. The will of the
pure runs down into other natures as water

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runs down from the higher into a
lower vessel. This natural force is no

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more to be withstood than any other
natural force. Character is nature in the

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highest form. Unquote, it is
absolutely impossible for impure, bestial, and

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selfish thoughts to blossom into loving and
altruistic habits. Thistle seeds bring forth only

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the thistle. Contrariwise, it is
entirely impossible for continual, altruistic, sympathetic,

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and serviceful thoughts to bring forth a
low and vicious character. Either thoughts

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or feelings proceed and determine all our
actions. Actions develop into habits. Habits

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constitute character, and character determines destiny. Therefore, to guard our thoughts and

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control our feelings is to shape our
destinies. The syllogism is complete and old.

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As it is, it is still
true. Since character is nature in

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the highest form, the development of
character must proceed on natural lines. The

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garden left to itself will bring forth
weeds and scrawny plants, but the flower

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beds, nurtured carefully will blossom into
fragrance and beauty. As the student enter

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in college largely determines his vacation by
choosing from the different courses of the curriculum,

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so do we choose our characters by
choosing our thoughts, with deadly going

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up toward that which we most wish
for, or steadily sinking to the level

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of our low desires. What we
secretly cherish in our hearts is a symbol

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of what we shall receive. Our
trains of thoughts are hurrying us on to

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our destiny. When you see the
flag fluttering to the south, you know

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the wind is coming from the north. Or when you see the straws and

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papers being carried to the northward,
you realize the wind is blowing out of

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the south. It is just as
easy to ascertain a man's thoughts by observing

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the tendency of his character. Let
it not be suspected for one moment that

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all this is merely a preachment on
the question of morals. It is that,

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but much more, for it touches
the whole man, his imaginative nature,

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his ability to control his feelings,
the mastery of his thinking faculties,

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and perhaps most largely, his power
to will and to carry his volition into

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effective action. Right thinking constantly assumes
that the will sits enthroned to execute the

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dictates of mind, conscience, and
heart. Never tolerate for an instant suggestion

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that your will is not absolutely efficient. The way of will is to will.

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And the very first time you attempted
to break a worthy resolution, and

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you will be You may be certain
of that. Make your fight then and

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there. You cannot afford to lose
that fight. You must win it.

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Don't swerve for an instant, but
keep that resolution. If it kills you,

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it will not. But you must
fight, just as though life depended

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on the victory. And indeed your
personality may actually lie in the balances.

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Your success or failure as a speaker
will be determined very largely by your thoughts

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and your mental attitude. The present
writer had a student of limited education enter

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one of his classes in public speaking. He proved to be a very poor

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speaker, and the instructor could conscientiously
do little but point out faults. However,

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the young man was warned not to
be discouraged with sorrow in his voice,

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and the essence of earnestness beaming from
his eyes. He replied, I

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will not be discouraged. I want
so badly to know how to speak.

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It was warm, human and from
the very heart, and he did keep

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on trying and developed into a creditable
speaker. There is no power under the

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stars that can defeat a man with
that attitude. He who down in the

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deeps of his heart earnestly longs to
get facility in speaking, and is willing

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to make the sacrifices necessary, will
reach his goal. Ask and ye shall

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receive, Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto

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you is indeed applicable to those who
would acquire speech power. You will not

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realize the prize that you wish for
languidly, but the goal that you start

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out to attain, with the spirit
of the old guard that dies but never

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surrenders, you will surely reach.
Your belief in your ability and your willingness

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to make sacrifices for that belief are
the double index to your future achievements.

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Lincoln had a dream of his possibilities
as a speaker. He transmuted that dream

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into life solely because he walked many
miles to borrow books, which he read

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by the log fire glow at night. He sacrificed much to realize his vision.

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Livingstone had a great faith in his
ability to serve the benighted races of

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Africa. To actualize that faith,
he gave up all, leaving England for

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the interior of the dark continent.
He struck the death blows to Europe's prophet

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from the slave trade, Joan of
Arc had great self confidence, glorified by

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an infinite pacity to sacrifice. She
drove the English beyond the Loire and stood

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beside Charles while he was crowned.
These all realize their strongest desires. The

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law is universal. Desire greatly,
and you shall achieve sacrifice much, and

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you shall obtain Stanton Davis Kirkham has
beautifully expressed this thought quote. You may

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be keeping accounts, and presently you
shall walk out of the door that has

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so long seemed to you the barrier
of your ideals, and shall find yourself

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before an audience, the pens still
behind your ear, the ink stains on

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your fingers, And then and there
shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration.

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You may be driving sheep, and
you shall wander to the city,

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bucolic and open mouthed, shall wander
under the intrepid guidance of the spirit,

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into the studio of the Master.
And after a time he shall say,

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I have nothing more to teach you, And now you have become the master

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who did so recently dream of great
things while driving sheep. You shall lay

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down the sore and the plane to
take upon yourself the regeneration of the world.

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Unquote. Questions and exercises. One, what, in your own words

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is personality? Two? How does
personality and a speaker affect you as a

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listener? Three? In what ways
does personality show itself in a speaker?

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Four? Deliver a short speech on
the power of will in the public speaker.

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Five Deliver a short address based on
any sentence you choose from this chapter.

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End of section twenty nine.