Richelieu used to say that he would not continue to employ an
unlucky man,--in other words, a man wanting in practical qualities, and
unable to profit by experience; for failures in the past are very often
the auguries of failures in the future.
Some of the best and ablest of men are wanting in tact. They will
neither make allowance for circumstances, nor adapt themselves to
circumstances: they will insist on trying to drive their wedge the broad
end foremost. They raise walls only to run their own heads against. They
make such great preparations, and use such great precautions, that they
defeat their own object,--like the Dutchman mentioned by Washington
Irving, who, having to leap a ditch, went so far back to have a good run
at it, that when he came up he was completely winded, and had to sit
down on the wrong side to recover his breath.
In actual life, we want things done, not preparations for doing them;
and we naturally prefer the man who has definite aims and purposes, and
proceeds in the straightest and shortest way to accomplish his object,
to the one who describes the thing to be done, and spins fine phrases
about doing it. Without action, words are mere maundering.
The desire for success in the world, and even for the accumulation of
money, is not without its uses. It has doubtless been implanted in the
human heart for good rather than for evil purposes.
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