Precept & Practice – APRIL 18 – Self-will

…..Self-will:  another name for it – perhaps a better one – might be Persistence.   Like many another, this fault is the overaction of a most necessary and praiseworthy quality.   The power of firmness is given to man as the very granite foundation of life.

Without it there would be nothing accomplished;  all human plans would be unstable as water on an inclined plane…..

The domestic fault we speak of is the wild, uncultured growth of this faculty, the instinctive action of firmness uncontrolled by reason or conscience – in common parlance, the being ‘set in one’s way.’  It is the animal instinct of being ‘set in one’s way’ which we mean by self-will or persistence;  and in domestic life it does the more mischief from its working as an instinct, unwatched by reason and unchallenged by conscience…..

A little reflection will enable any person to detect in himself that setness in trifles which is the result of the unwatched instinct of self-will, and to establish over himself a jealous guardianship.

H. Beecher Stowe (Little Foxes)

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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