On Achieving Success

佚名/Anonymous

我们不可能同时涉足每条路。若想成功就要沿着一条路坚定地走下去。我们要确定一个人生目标，其他一切都服务于此。我讨厌半途而废的做事方式。如果认为事情是正确的，就放手去做。如果认为不正确，就不要冒险而为。怀有成功梦想的生活才是理想的生活。能使一个人强大的不是他做什么事，而是他想努力做什么事。成功需要不懈地努力。如果我们不尽心尽力地工作，别人就会赶超我们，夺取桂冠。若怀有侥幸心理，成功只会渐行渐远。气馁是失败的罪魁祸首。品格是获取成功的得力助手，是训练和信念的果实，是一种确定的习性。每种品格都受遗传、环境和教育等诸多因素的影响。若忽略这些影响因素，每个人都不“扩建”自己的品格，那么他就是一个宿命论者，一个无责任感的特定环境下的生物个体。

与其说人是环境的创造物，不如说人是环境的建造师。相同的材料，有的人可以用它建造宫殿，有的人却只能用它建造茅草房。砖头和灰泥无力改变自己的本质，而建造师们可以将其构筑成任何一个有形之物。

若想收获丰盛，就不要期望太多。

明智的人不会为他们无法得到的事物而懊恼。

We cannot travel every path. Success must be won along one line. We must make our business the one life purpose to which every other must be subordinate. I hate a thing done by halves. If it be right， do it boldly. If it be wrong， leave it undone. To live with a high ideal is a successful life. It is not what one does， but what one tries to do， that makes a man strong. Unceasing effort is the price of success. If we do not work with our might， others will； and they will outstrip us in the race， and pluck the prize from our grasp. Success grows less and less dependent on luck and chance. Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. The great and indispensable help to success is character. Character is a crystallized habit， the result of training and conviction. Every character is influenced by heredity， environment and education. But these apart， if every man were not to be a extent the architect of his own character， he would be a fatalist， and irresponsible creature of circumstances.

Instead of saying that man is creature of circumstances， it would be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstances. From the same materials one man builds palaces， another hovels. Bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks， until the architect can make them something else.

The true way to gain much is never to desire to gain too much.

Wise men don't care for what they can't have.