DECISION AND INDECISlSfT. 47 



are open to be changed by new observation or new 

 testimony. View the matter as we may, therefore, 

 we find that, if we be not diligent in observing, we 

 never can avoid error. 



There yet remains one other use of a habit of close 

 and constant observation, which is, perhaps, more 

 conducive to the dignity of our character, and our 

 success in the world, than any of those more general 

 ones that have been hinted at ; and that is, the readi- 

 ness and rapidity with which we can, not only judge, 

 but judge rightly. That is what is called " decision 

 of character :" and when genuine, and exercised within 

 the proper bounds, it is probably the most valuable 

 temperament of mind that man can possess. 



It stands opposed to " indecision," in which a man 

 cannot weigh the evidence ; and "fastidiousness" in 

 which the time and attention are wasted upon trifles 

 which form no important part of the evidence at all. 

 The first of these is a vice arising from want of 

 thought to accompany observation, and make it ready 

 for use ; and as such it may be considered as a 

 characteristic of the " shallow-minded," as we call 

 them. The second is the vice of those who think 

 more than they^bserve ; and it is a characteristic 

 of the " little-minded," among the learned. 



But there are also counterfeits of decision of char- 

 acter; and they are vices of rude and vulgar minds. 

 There is " headlongness," which rushes forward to 

 decide and act, with little or no attention to the evi- 

 dence ; and " stubbornness," which will not reverse 

 the judgment, although the new evidence be conclu- 

 sive against it. 



A genuine decided character, one which will 

 enable a man to carry all his plans into effect with 

 success, and to ride buoyant upon every wave of the 

 sea of trouble, is perhaps not to be attained, at least 

 early in life, without a certain degree of stubborn- 

 ness ; and as that stubbornness produces a sort of 

 contempt for advice and new information, even in 



