Precept & Practice – FEBRUARY 20 – Self-reliance

It is true that often, very often, men have been mistaken, have had altogether too much confidence in themselves, and so have egregiously failed.   But is it not equally true, on the other hand, that men have often failed to do what they might have done because they have not had enough confidence in themselves?   They have never done much good in the world simply because they never knew how much good they could do.   They have not perceived or realised the power that God has given them.   They are not up to themselves and the measure of their opportunity, like a man who has made a fortune but does not know how to use it, and does not see the great and potential blessing in it.

These, then, it seems to me, are the conditions of mastership:  First, the possession in fact of some born gift or a capacity;  and second, its possession in consciousness. 

Bishop Greer (From Things to God)

To industry and economy add self-reliance.   Do not take too much advice.   The man of business should keep at the helm, and steer his own bark.   In early life every man should be taught to think and act for himself, and to rely on his own capacity.   Unless a man is accustomed to trust to his own resources, his talents will never be fully developed;  he will never gain that quickness of perception, that promptness of decision, that readiness of action that are essential to the successful conduct of affairs.   Had not Nelson been accustomed to confide in himself, the victory off Cape St. Vincent would have been shorn of half its glory.

Davenport Adams

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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