The Girl Wanted: A Book of Friendly Thoughts. Waterman Nixon
restful and refreshing than a friendly glance or a kindly word offered to us in the midst of our daily rounds of duty. And since we are not The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes. – Jonathan Swift. often in a position to grant great favors we should not fail to cultivate the habit of bestowing small ones whenever we can. It is in giving the many little lifts along the way that we shall be able to lighten many burdens.
I do not know it to be a fact, but I have read it somewhere in the books that the human heart rests nine hours out of every twenty-four. It manages to steal little bits of rest between beats, and thus it is ever refreshed and able to go on performing the work nature has assigned for it to do.
Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. – Lord Chesterfield. And therein is a first-rate lesson for most persons, who if they cannot do something of considerable moment are disposed to do nothing at all. They forget Indulge not in vain regrets for the past, in vainer resolves for the future – act, act in the present. – F. W. Robertson. that it is the brief three-minute rests that enable the mountain-climber to press on till he reaches the top whereas longer periods of inactivity might serve to stiffen his limbs and impede his progress.
Wise are they who, like the human heart, sprinkle rest and kindness and heart’s-ease all through their daily tasks. They weave a bright thread of thankful happiness through the web The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in our power. – Hugh White. and woof of life’s pattern. They are never too busy to say a kind word or to do a gentle deed. They may be compelled to sigh betimes, but amid their sighs are smiles that drive away the cares. They find sunbeams scattered in the trail of every cloud. They gather flowers where others see nothing but weeds. They pluck little sprigs of rest where others find only thorns of distress.
The man who cannot be practical and mix his religion with his business is either in the wrong religion or in the wrong business. – Patrick Flynn. After the manner of the human heart, they make much of the little opportunities presented to them. They rest that they may have strength for others. They gather sunshine with which to dispel the shadows about them.
The I don’t think there is a pleasure in the world that can be compared with an honest joy in conquering a difficult task. – Margaret E. Sangster. grandest conception of life is to esteem it as an opportunity for making others happy. He who is most true to his higher self is truest to the race. The lamp that shines brightest gives the most light to all about it. Thoreau says: "To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of life."
Every right action and true thought sets the seal of its beauty on every person’s face; every wrong action and foul thought its seal of distortion. – Ruskin. He is, indeed, a correct observer and a careful student of human nature who tells us that the face is such an index of character that the very growth of the latter can be traced upon the former, and most of the successive lines that carve the furrowed face of age out of the smooth outline of childhood are engraved directly or indirectly by mind. There is no beautifier of the face like a beautiful spirit.
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. – J. M. Barrie. So we see that if we have acquired the habit of wearing a pleasant face, or of smiling honestly and cheerfully, we have an accomplishment that is worth more than many others that are more pretentious and more superficial. If to this accomplishment we can add another – the ability to speak a pleasant word to those whom we may meet – we are not to think poorly of our equipment for life.
There is a good, old-fashioned word in the dictionary, the study of which, with its definition, is well worth our while. Politeness is like an air cushion; there may be nothing in it, but it eases the jolts wonderfully. – George Eliot. The word is "Complaisance," and it is defined as "the disposition, action, or habit of being agreeable, or conforming to the views, wishes, or convenience of others; desire or endeavor to please; courtesy; politeness."
Complaisance, as it has been truly said, renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, an inferior acceptable. It Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all things easy. – Benjamin Franklin. sweetens conversation; it produces good-nature and mutual benevolence; it encourages the timid, soothes the turbulent, humanizes the fierce, and distinguishes a society of civilized persons from a confusion of savages.
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. – Disraeli. Politeness has been defined as society’s method of making things run smoothly. True complaisance is a more intimate quality. It is an impulse to seek points of agreement with others. A spirit of welcome, whether to strangers, or to new suggestions, untried pleasures, fresh impressions. It never is satisfied to remain inactive as long as there is anybody to please or to make more comfortable.
The complaisant person need not be lacking in will, in determination, or individuality. In fact it is the complaisant We would willingly have others perfect and yet we amend not our own faults. – Thomas à Kempis. person’s strength of will that holds in check and harmonizes all the other traits of character and moulds them into a perfectly balanced disposition.
Complaisance rounds off the sharp corners, chooses softer and gentler words and makes it easy and pleasant for all to dwell together in unity. And it never fails to contribute something to The most manifold sign of wisdom is continued cheer. – Montaigne. the enjoyment of everyone even though it be
There is only one cure for public distress – and that is public education, directed to make men thoughtful, merciful, and just. – Ruskin.
Tell me something that will be
Joy through all the years to me.
Let my heart forever hold
One divinest grain of gold.
Just a simple little word,
Yet the dearest ever heard;
Something that will bring me rest
When the world seems all distressed.
To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. – Wade.
As the candle in the night
Sends abroad its cheerful light,
So a little word may be
Like a lighthouse in the sea.
When the winds and waves of life
Fill the breast with storm and strife,
Just one star my boat may guide
To the harbor, glorified.
CHAPTER III
THE JOY OF DOING
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. – Emerson. Half-way, half-hearted doings never amount to much. Battles are not won with flags at half-mast. No, they are run up to the very tops of their standards and are waved as far toward the heavens as is possible.
Gentle words, quiet words, are, after all, the most powerful words. – Washington Gladden. If we lack enthusiasm we are almost as certain to fail of achieving an end as a locomotive engine that lacks steam is of climbing the grade. Even a listless, lackadaisical spirit may get on all right so long as the path of life is all on a level or is down grade, but when it comes to hill-climbing and the real experiences of life that serve to develop character, it is likely to give up the contest and surrender the prize it might win to other and more earnest competitors.
Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. – Thoreau. "If you would get the best results, do your work with enthusiasm as well as fidelity," says Dr. Lyman Abbott. "Only he can who thinks he can!" says Orison Swett Marden. "The world makes way only for the determined man who laughs at barriers which limit others, at stumbling-blocks over which others fall. The Nothing will be mended by complaints. – Johnson. man who, as Emerson says, ’hitches his wagon to a star,’ is more likely to arrive at his goal than the one who trails in the slimy path of the snail."
Peace! Peace! How sweet the word and tender! Its very sound should wrangling discord still. – Nathan Haskell Dole. Every girl