great fortunes are built by brains and force,--and he never secures
leadership. He who is to win the noblest successes in the world of affairs
must continually educate himself for larger grasp of principles and
broader grasp of conditions.




Chapter XII

Special Training


It is a very superficial conception of workmanship which sets it in
conflict with originality. There is often an inherent antagonism between
the impulse for freedom and spontaneity which is characteristic of genius,
and a conventional, hard-and-fast rule or method of securing certain
technical results; but there is no antagonism between the boldest
originality and the most complete mastery of craftsmanship. There is,
rather, a deep and vital relationship between the two. For every art is a
language, and to secure power and beauty and adequacy of expression a man
must command all the secrets and resources of the form of speech which he
has chosen. The power of the great artist rests, in the last analysis,
upon the freedom with which he uses his material; and this freedom does
not come by nature; it comes by training. It is fatal to the highest
success to have the command of a noble language and to have nothing to say
in it; it is equally fatal to have noble thoughts and to lack the power of
giving them expression. Technical skill is not, therefore, an exterior,
mechanical possession; it is the fitting of tools and material to heart
and mind; it is the fruit of character; it is the evidence of sincerity,