Decision gives the power of standing firmly, when
to yield, however slightly, might be only the first step in a
downhill course to ruin.
Calling upon others for help in forming a decision is worse than
useless. A man must so train his habits as to rely upon his own
powers and depend upon his own courage in moments of emergency.
Plutarch tells of a King of Macedon who, in the midst of an
action, withdrew into the adjoining town under pretence of
sacrificing to Hercules; whilst his opponent Emilius, at the same
time that he implored the Divine aid, sought for victory sword in
hand, and won the battle. And so it ever is in the actions of
daily life.
Many are the valiant purposes formed, that end merely in words;
deeds intended, that are never done; designs projected, that are
never begun; and all for want of a little courageous decision.
Better far the silent tongue but the eloquent deed. For in life
and in business, despatch is better than discourse; and the
shortest answer of all is, DOING. "In matters of great concern,
and which must be done," says Tillotson, "there is no surer
argument of a weak mind than irresolution--to be undetermined
when the case is so plain and the necessity so urgent. To be
always intending to live a new life, but never to find time
to set about it,--this is as if a man should put off eating
and drinking and sleeping from one day to another, until
he is starved and destroyed.
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