1. The Happy door

Happiness is like a pebble dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle of ripples. As Stevenson has said, being happy is a duty.

There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures, who are extremely happy.

Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others.

Being unhappy is like an infectious disease. It causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem, at first glance, ridiculous; if you don’t feel happy, pretend to be!

It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.

Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.

Being happy, once it is realized as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.

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2. Thrift

Thrift is the foundation of all greatness. It is applied not only to money matters, but to everything else in life—the wise use of one’s time, ability, and energy. In short, thrift is the scientific management of one’s money, of one’s time, of one’s affairs, and of one’s self.

Thrift is the best word for us. It makes fortune. It uplifts character. It improves the quality of the individual. The exercise of thrift has a very healthful reaction upon all the other faculties. The habit of thrift denotes self-control. It is a proof that a man is not a hopeless victim of his weakness. It is a proof that he is the master of himself as well as of his finances.

Thrift is an educator. A thrifty man thinks and plans. He has a program. He has a certain amount of independence. If you have cultivated thrift, it means that you have the ability to control your desires and that you are developing some of the grandest human qualities—self-reliance, independence, prudence, and foresight.

We know that all great nations are founded on thrift. The ancient Roman Empire degenerated and came to an end when it ceased to be thrifty. Yet thrift does not require superior courage. It needs no fervent resolution, but only a little patient self-denial. And BEGIN is its device!      

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3. Advice to a Young Man     ----Robert Jones Burdette

Remember, my son, you have to work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction bell or writing funny things, you must work. If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their days without work are the men who work the hardest. Don’t be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It’s the interval that kills, my son. The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.

There are young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them. It does not know their names, even it simply speaks of them as “old So-and-So’s boy”. Nobody likes them; the great, busy world doesn’t know that they are there. So find out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world. The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be with you.
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4.  Frankness                    ----Robert E. Lee   

You must study to be frank with the world: frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do, on every occasion. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot. You would wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind.
      Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one. The man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly but firmly with all your classmates. You will find it the policy which wears best. Above all, do not appear to others what you are not.

If you have any fault to find with any one, tell him, not others, of what you complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to do one thing before a man’s face and another behind his back. We should say and do nothing to the injury of any one. It is not only a matter of principle, but also the path of peace and honor.
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5. Love Your Life   ----Henry David Thoreau  

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is.

You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.

The town’s poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable.

Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

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6. Youth                     ----by Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it’s a state of mind; it’s not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it’s a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it’s the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for the adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than of 20.Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear ,self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16 ,there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station: so long as it receives message of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.

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7. True Nobility  ----Ernest Hemingway

In a calm sea every man is a pilot. But all sunshine without shade, all pleasure without pain, is not life at all. Take the lot of the happiest----it is a tangled yarn. Bereavements and blessings, one following another, make us sad and blessed by turns. Even death itself makes life more loving. Men come closest to their true selves in the sober moments of life, under the shadows of sorrow and loss.

In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character, not brains so much as heart, not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment.

I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without. In an age of extravagance and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity are.

To regret one’s errors to the point of not repeating them is true repentance. There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.

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8. Yesterday...Today...AND Tomorrow

There are two days in every week that we should not worry about, two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One is Yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.

Yesterday has passed, forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.

We cannot undo a single act we performed.

Nor can we erase a single word we said - Yesterday is gone!

The other day we shouldn’t worry about is Tomorrow with its impossible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our immediate control.

Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds - but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day - Today. Any man can fight the battles of just one day; it is only when you or I add the burdens of those two awful eternities- Yesterday and Tomorrow- that we break down.

It is not the experience of Today that drives man mad –

It is remorse or bitterness for something which happened Yesterday, and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, live One Day at a Time!

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9. Self-Confidence is Essential to Success

Nothing succeeds like confidence. When you are truly confident, it radiates from you like sunlight, and attracts success to you like a magnet.

It’s important to believe in yourself. Believe that you can do it under any circumstances, because if you believe you can, then you really will. The belief keeps you searching for answers, which means that pretty soon you will get them.

Confidence is more than an attitude. It comes from knowing exactly where you are going and exactly how you are going to get there. It comes from acting with integrity and confidence. It comes from a strong sense of purpose. It comes from a strong commitment to take responsibility, rather than just letting life happen.

One way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and to get a record of successful experiences behind you.

Confidence is compassionate and understanding. It is not arrogant. Arrogance is born out of fear and insecurity, while confidence comes from strength and integrity.

Confidence is not just believing you can do it. Confidence is knowing you can do it. Know that you are capable of accomplish anything you want, and live your life with confidence.

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10. Born to Win

You cannot teach a man anything．You can only help him discover it within himself． -Galileo

Each human being is born as something unique，something that never existed before．Each person has the potential to win in his own way．A normal person can see，hear，touch，taste，and think for himself．Each has his own unique potentials- his capabilities and limitations．Each can be an important，thinking，aware，and creatively productive person in his own right-a winner．

The words" winner" and "loser "have many meanings．When we refer to a person as a winner，we do not mean one who defeats the other person by dominating and making him lose． Instead a winner is one who responds genuinely by being trustworthy and responsive both as an individual and as a member of society．A loser is one who fails to respond genuinely．

Few people are winners or losers all the time．It’s a matter of degree．However，once a person has the capacity to be a winner，his chances are greater for becoming even more so．

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