careers

I am led to reflect how much more delightful to an undebauched mind, is the task of making improvements on the earth, than all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of conquests.

He was at a starting point which makes many a man's career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose. . . .

Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on schedule. The key is to keep working on the engines.

Contemplating this blighted and sinister career, the lesson is burnt in upon the conscience, that since Judas by transgression fell, no place in the Church of Christ can render any man secure. And since, falling, he was openly exposed, none may flatter himself that the cause of Christ is bound up with his reputation, that the mischief must needs be averted which his downfall would entail, that Providence must needs avert from him the natural penalties for evildoing. Though one was as the signet upon the Lord's hand, yet was he plucked thence. There is no security for any soul except where love and trust repose, upon the bosom of Christ.

When the war finally came to an end, I was at a loss as to what to do. . . . I took stock of my qualifications. A not-very-good degree, redeemed somewhat by my achievements at the Admiralty. A knowledge of certain restricted parts of magnetism and hydrodynamics, neither of them subjects for which I felt the least bit of enthusiasm. No published papers at all. . . . Only gradually did I realize that this lack of qualification could be an advantage. By the time most scientists have reached age thirty they are trapped by their own expertise. They have invested so much effort in one particular field that it is often extremely difficult, at that time in their careers, to make a radical change. I, on the other hand, knew nothing, except for a basic training in somewhat old-fashioned physics and mathematics and an ability to turn my hand to new things. . . . Since I essentially knew nothing, I had an almost completely free choice. . . .

Do not be caught up in materialism, one of the real plagues of our generation-that is, acquiring things, fast-paced living, and securing career success.

No Life can pompless pass away -
The lowliest career
To the same Pageant wends its way
As that exalted here -

The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is not that of the man who is taken unprepared, but of him who has prepared and is never taken.

"What sort of man or woman shall I be; what kind of life shall I propose and hew out ?" The answer one frames to this question is his personal ideal, and will exercise a potent influence upon the development of his character and the direction of his conduct. Toward it the growing soul strives, day after day, year after year; its outlines, first existing only in the imagination of the heart, gradually, almost imperceptibly impress themselves on the soul and body, and manifest themselves in the outer life; "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The personal ideal distinguishes man from lower creatures; and its perfection and power mark the high and full development of humanity. Very early it becomes the directing influence in self-culture,-which is by far the most important part of education; all truly higher education is self-education; the mission of all training from without is to stimulate and aid and guide one to take charge of his own culture and career. Conscious education is always directed by some sort of an ideal: the school, the home, national education are laboring to mold men and women into certain general forms of excellence and virtue; the personal ideal is the image that one forms of his own possible self. The personal ideal must have power over our lives, else it is not an ideal at all, but only an idea. One must not merely dream of strength, of wisdom, of skill and power, of honor and righteousness, of nobility and generosity, - he must resolve to attain them. He must see himself pursuing and achieving, and be inspired and energized by the vision. Such a vision of power is the personal ideal.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about mathematics is that it is so surprising. The rules which we make up at the beginning seem ordinary and inevitable, but it is impossible to foresee their consequences. These have only been found out by long study, extending over many centuries. Much of our knowledge is due to a comparatively few great mathematicians such as Newton, Euler, Gauss, or Riemann; few careers can have been more satisfying than theirs. They have contributed something to human thought even more lasting than great literature, since it is independent of language.