Precept & Practice – JANUARY 30 – Duty

No hard task is as easy to do as at the moment when it first ought to be done.   It may be very hard to do it just then;  because it is so hard we often defer it until another time.   But then it becomes about twice as hard.   The deferred difficulty is the doubled difficulty.   If we repeat the deferring process, and continue repeating it, the task finally becomes such a bugbear that we hate even to think of it.   We have all had this experience;  the wonder is that we do not profit by it more.   The least efficient persons in the world are those who habitually start at, or intend to start at, the same task over and over again.   The most efficient are those who plunge into the hard things as they appear, and finish them up at the first encounter.   ‘Do it now’ is a hackneyed phrase, but it tells the easiest, surest method of disposing of hard work.

Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.

C. Kingsley

A great deal of moral power is gained by accustoming our will to act with decision the moment the right path is clear.   This decision, and the habitual discipline of a strong will, are essential to a good character.

Dr. Schofield

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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