Speaker 1: Right principles. It is wise to know what comes first
Speaker 1: and what to do first. To begin anything in the
Speaker 1: middle or at the end is to make a muddle
Speaker 1: of it. The athlete who began by breaking the tape
Speaker 1: would not receive the prize. He must begin by facing
Speaker 1: the starter and towing the mark, and even then a
Speaker 1: good start is important if he is to win. The
Speaker 1: pupil does not begin with algebra and literature, but with
Speaker 1: counting in a BC, So in life, the business men
Speaker 1: who begin at the bottom achieve the more enduring success,
Speaker 1: and the religious men who reach the highest heights of
Speaker 1: spiritual knowledge and wisdom are they who have stooped to
Speaker 1: serve a patient apprenticeship to the humbler tasks, and if
Speaker 1: not scorned the common experiences of humanity, or overlook the
Speaker 1: lessons to be learned from them. The first things in
Speaker 1: a sound life, and therefore in a truly happy and
Speaker 1: successful life, are right principle. Without right principles to begin with,
Speaker 1: there will be wrong practices to follow with, and a
Speaker 1: bungled and wretched life to end with. All the infinite
Speaker 1: variety of calculations which tabulate the commerce and science of
Speaker 1: the world come out of ten figures. All the hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands of books which constitute the literature of the
Speaker 1: world and perpetuate its thought in genius, are built up
Speaker 1: from the twenty six letters. The greatest astronomer cannot ignore
Speaker 1: the ten simple figures. The profoundest man of genius cannot
Speaker 1: dispense with the twenty six simple characters. The fundamentals of
Speaker 1: all things are few and simple, yet without them there
Speaker 1: is no knowledge and no achievement. The fundamentals the basic
Speaker 1: principles in life or true living, are also few and simple.
Speaker 1: And to learn them thoroughly and study how to apply
Speaker 1: them to all the details of life is to avoid
Speaker 1: confusion and to secure a substantial foundation for the orderly
Speaker 1: building up of an invincible character and a permanent success.
Speaker 1: And to succeed in comprehending those principles in their innumerable
Speaker 1: ramifications in the labyrinth of conduct is to become a
Speaker 1: master of life. The first principles in life are principles
Speaker 1: of conduct. To name them is easy. As mere words,
Speaker 1: they are on all men's lips, but as fixed sources
Speaker 1: of action, admitting of no compromise, few have learned them.
Speaker 1: In this short talk I will deal with five only
Speaker 1: of these principles. These five are amongst the simplest of
Speaker 1: the root principles of life. But they are also those
Speaker 1: that come nearest to the everyday life, for they touch
Speaker 1: the artisan, the business man, the householder, the citizen at
Speaker 1: every point. No one of them can be dispensed with,
Speaker 1: but at severe cost. And he who perfects himself in
Speaker 1: their application will rise superior to many of the troubles
Speaker 1: and failures of life, and will come into these springs
Speaker 1: and currents of thought which flow harmoniously toward the regions
Speaker 1: of enduring success. The first of these principles is duty,
Speaker 1: a much hackneyed word, I know, but it contains a
Speaker 1: rare jewel for him who will seek it By assiduous application.
Speaker 1: The principle of duty means strict adherence to one's own
Speaker 1: business and justice, strict non interference in the business of others.
Speaker 1: The man who is continually instructing others gradis how to
Speaker 1: manage their affairs is the one who most mismanage his own.
Speaker 1: Duty also means undivided attention to the matter in hand,
Speaker 1: intelligent concentration of the mind on the work to be done.
Speaker 1: It includes all that is meant by thoroughness, exactness, and efficiency.
Speaker 1: The details of duties differ with individuals, and each man
Speaker 1: should know his own duty better than he knows his
Speaker 1: neighbors and better than his neighbor knows his. But although
Speaker 1: the working details differ, the principle is always the same.
Speaker 1: Who has mastered the demands of duty. Honesty is the
Speaker 1: next principle. It means not cheating or overcharging another. It
Speaker 1: involves the absence of all trickery, lying, and deception by word, look,
Speaker 1: or gesture. It includes sincerity, the saying what you mean
Speaker 1: and the meaning what you say. It scorns cringing policy
Speaker 1: and shining complement. It builds up good reputations and good
Speaker 1: reputations build up good businesses, and bright joy accompanies well
Speaker 1: earned success. Who has scaled the heights of honesty. Economy
Speaker 1: is the third principle. The conservation of one's financial resources
Speaker 1: is merely the vestibule leading towards the more spacious chambers
Speaker 1: of true economy. It means, as well, the husbanding of
Speaker 1: one's physical, vitality and mental resources. It demands the conservation
Speaker 1: of energy by the avoidance of enervating self indulgence and
Speaker 1: sensual habits. It holds for its follower's strength, endurance, vigilance,
Speaker 1: and the capacity to achieve. It bestows great power on
Speaker 1: him who learns it well, who has realized the supreme
Speaker 1: strength of economy. Liberality follows economy. It is not opposed
Speaker 1: to it. Only the man of economy can afford to
Speaker 1: be generous. The spendthrift, whether in money, vitality, or mental energy,
Speaker 1: wasted so much on his own miserable pleasures as to
Speaker 1: have none left to bestow upon others. The giving of
Speaker 1: money is the smallest part of liberality. There is the
Speaker 1: giving of thoughts and deeds, and sympathy, the bestowing of
Speaker 1: good will, the being generous towards calumniators and opponents. It
Speaker 1: is a principle that begets a noble, far reaching influence.
Speaker 1: It brings loving friends and staunch comrades, and is the
Speaker 1: foe of loneliness and despair who has measured breadth of liberality.
Speaker 1: Self control is the last of these five principles, yet
Speaker 1: the most important. Its neglect is the cause of vast misery.
Speaker 1: Innumerable failures and tens of thousands of financial, physical, and
Speaker 1: mental wrecks. Show me. The business man who loses his
Speaker 1: temper with a customer over some trivial matter, and I
Speaker 1: will show you a man who, by that condition of
Speaker 1: mind is doomed to failure. If all men practiced even
Speaker 1: the initial stages of self control, anger, with its consuming
Speaker 1: and destroying fire, would be unknown. The lessons of patience, purity, gentleness, kindness,
Speaker 1: and steadfastness, which are contained in the principle of self control,
Speaker 1: are slowly learned by men. Yet until they are truly learned,
Speaker 1: a man's character and success are uncertain and insecure. Where
Speaker 1: is the man who has perfected himself and self control?
Speaker 1: Where he may be he is a master. Indeed, the
Speaker 1: five principles are five practices, five avenues to achievement, and
Speaker 1: five sources of knowledge. It is an old saying and
Speaker 1: a good rule that practice makes perfect. And he who
Speaker 1: would make his own wisdom, which is inherent in those principles,
Speaker 1: must not merely have them on his lips. They must
Speaker 1: be established in his heart. To know them and receive
Speaker 1: what they alone can bring, he must do them and
Speaker 1: give them out in his actions.