I make myself a wretch;--and still must follow."

If we are ever in doubt what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves
what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.

Moreover, the result in the long run will depend not so much on some
single resolution, or on our action in a special case, but rather on the
preparation of daily life. Battles are often won before they are fought.
To control our passions we must govern our habits, and keep watch over
ourselves in the small details of everyday life.

The importance of small things has been pointed out by philosophers over
and over again from AEsop downward. "Great without small makes a bad
wall," says a quaint Greek proverb, which seems to go back to cyclopean
times. In an old Hindoo story Ammi says to his son, "Bring me a fruit of
that tree and break it open. What is there?" The son said, "Some small
seeds." "Break one of them and what do you see?" "Nothing, my lord," "My
child," said Ammi, "where you see nothing there dwells a mighty tree." It
may almost be questioned whether anything can be truly called small.

"There is no great and no small
To the soul that maketh all;
And where it cometh all things are,
And it cometh everywhere." [6]

We should therefore watch ourselves in small things. If "you wish not to
be of an angry temper, do not feed the habit: throw nothing on it which
will increase it: at first keep quiet, and count the days on which you
have not been angry. I used to be in passion every day; now every second
day; then every third; then every fourth. But if you have intermitted