Healthy action is always a balance of forces; and all extremes are dangerous; the excess of a good thing being often more dangerous in its social consequences than the excess of what is radically bad. To young men.
Let your rule in reference to your social sentiments be simply this; pray for the bad, pity the weak, enjoy the good, and reverence both the great and the small, as playing each his part aptly in the divine symphony of the universe.
Never desire to appear clever and make a show of your talents before men. Be honest, loving, kindly, and sympathetic in all you say and do. Cleverness will flow from you naturally if you have it, and applause will come to you unsought from those who know what to applaud; but the applause of fools is to be shunned. To young men.
Never forget St. Paul’s sentence, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” This is the steam of the social machine; but the steam requires regulation; it is regulated by intelligence and moderation. To young men.
Never indulge the notion that you have any absolute right to choose the sphere or the circumstances in which you are to put forth your powers of social action. To young men.
The nobility of life is work. We live in a working world. The lazy and idle man does not count in the plan of campaign. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Let that text be enough. To young men.
Why seek at once to dive into / The depth of all that meets your view? / Wait for the melting of the snow, / And then you’ll see what lies below. From Goethe.
