beautifully-cut gem, it seems that we never see all it is--it is never
twice the same; always a new radiance comes from it because it is a
true gem through and through. It is full of true light, and true light
is always opposed to darkness; and darkness is the source of
ignorance.

From all this you can now understand the quaintly-expressed opinion of
a very wise man, who said: "In discharge of thy place, set before thee
the best example."[35] That means whatever we strive to learn should
be learned from works of the best kind. In the beginning, we cannot
choose wisely the best examples to set before ourselves; therefore it
is for us to heed what another wise man said: "As to choice in the
study of pieces, ask the advice of more experienced persons than
yourself; by so doing you will save much time." [36] You thereby save
time doubly. Later on in your life you will have no bad taste to
overcome--that is one saving; and already you know from childhood many
classics, and that is another saving. What we learn in childhood is a
power all our lives.

You can see plainly, now, that both in the choice of pieces and in the
manner of playing them, a person's character will come out. We saw in
the last Talk how character has to come out in writing. Only a very
common character would select pieces written entirely for a vain
show--of rapid runs, glittering arpeggios, and loud, unmeaning chords.
Worse than that, such a choice of pieces displays two common
people,--three, in fact: A composer who did not write pure thought
from the heart; a teacher who did not instil good thoughts into the
pupil's heart; and yourself (if really you care for such things) who
play from a vain desire to be considered brilliant.