Precept & Practice – JANUARY 18 – Enthusiasm

There is a great adaptive power in human nature.   The mind is wonderfully adjustive to different conditions;  but you will not get the best results until your mind is settled, until you are resolved not only to like your work, but also to do it in the spirit of a master and not in that of a slave.   Resolve that, whatever you do, you will like it;  that you will bring the whole man to it;  that you will fling the whole weight of your being into it;  and that you will do it in the spirit of a conqueror, and so get the lesson and power out of it which come only to the conqueror.

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success.   When you do a thing, do it with your might.   Put your whole soul into it.   Stamp it with your own personality.   Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object.   Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW