Doing Common Things Uncommonly Well.

There Is A Legend Of An Artist Who Long Sought For A Piece Of Sandalwood, Out Of Which To Carve A Madonna. He Was About To Give Up In Despair, Leaving The Vision Of His Life Unrealized, When In A Dream He Was Bidden To Carve His Madonna From A Block Of Oak Wood Which Was Destined For The Fire. He Obeyed And Produced A Masterpiece From A Log Of Common Firewood. Many Of Us Lose Great Opportunities In Life By Waiting To Find Sandalwood For Our Carvings, When They Really Lie Hidden In The Common Logs That We Burn.

Character Is A Mark Cut Upon Something, And This Indelible Mark Determines The Only True Value Of All People And All Their Work.

Obstacles Will Look Large Or Small To You According To Whether You Are Large Or Small.

If We Put The Emphasis Upon The Right Things, If We Live The Life That Is Worth While And Then Fail, We Will Survive All Disasters, We Will Out-live All Misfortune. We Should Be So Well Balanced And Symmetrical, That Nothing Which Could Ever Happen Could Throw Us Off Our Center, So That No Matter What Misfortune Should Overtake Us, There Would Still Be A Whole Magnificent Man Or Woman Left After Being Stripped Of Everything Else.

You Must Bring Every Particle Of Your Energy, Unanswerable Resolution, Your Best Efforts, Your Persistent Industry To Your Task Or The Best Will Not Come Out Of You. You Must Back Up Your Ambition By Your Whole Nature, By Unbounded Enthusiasm And A Determination To Win Which Knows No Failure.