SELF KNOWLEDGE 



The chances are that you will find that your new revo- 

 lutionary idea was discussed by the followers of the early 

 Egyptian Pharaohs, by the magicians of old Babylonia, 

 or, at the very latest, by Pythagoras or Plato. The 

 so-called oldest book in the world, the Prisse Papyrus, 

 dating from Egypt of the third millennium B.C., voices 

 the plaintive regret of an old man who finds that 

 things are not what they were in the golden days of 

 old. Such pessimism, with its heritage of destructive 

 criticism, is the product of every age, and must be 

 taken with due allowance; yet back of it lies at least 

 a half truth. 



Make sure, then, that your firm resolve and persistent 

 effort are carrying you toward a fixed guiding star, 

 not toward a will-o' -the- wisp. Make sure that it is true 

 firmness of will, not mere obstinacy, that holds you to 

 your course. For rest assured there is no more monu- 

 mental exponent of unity of purpose than the fanatic 

 who is the victim of one fixed idea. His persistency 

 may lead him to sheer insanity to an asylum or prison 

 yet it differs in no regard from the commendable 

 stability of purpose which I have all along enjoined, 

 except in the one vital essential that it will not bear the 

 scrutiny of common sense. Ample tests were at hand 

 to prove that the fanatic fixed his eyes on a mirage, not 

 on an actual goal ; but it was a measure of his fanaticism 

 that he could not accept the tests. 



At the risk of a seeming anti-climax, then, I will re- 

 peat, " Be brave, Be brave, Be brave ; Be not too brave." 

 Temper your enthusiasm with caution. Let self-con- 

 fidence be based on true self-knowledge. Cultivate 



