But the high intellectual plane of present-day civilization demands more
of us than the world demanded then, when the avenues to honor and to power
lay over fields of conquest, and the passport to favor was the sword. The
complex problems of today call for a more thorough cultivation of our
mental powers, which, to bring into play upon the multifarious concerns of
our life, is the object of broad education. A well cultivated mind makes a
man monarch of all that he surveys; and no one can be said to be truly
successful who has not invaded the empire of thought in search for the
imperishable Fleece of Gold.

Success, then, in the highest sense, is a full realization of the highest
wealth of body, mind, and soul. And while it does not disparage material
aggrandizement, it makes it subservient, ever looking to an equalization
of the greater revenues of life. Like truth it consists in a right
proportion of things; and like character, is inherent in the nature of the
individual. Success must embrace all the cardinal virtues. It must arise
from the harmonious and fullest use of all the faculties. In its essence,
it is the aggregate of those things which we have acquired, and which we
are putting to a wise and useful purpose. The way of life is strewn with
those who have done fairly well. Excellence is the golden quality to seek.
Success, like a commodity, has its price, and he who would have it must be
willing to pay. You can not buy it on a bargain counter; it is a staple
product and demands full value--the sublimest qualities of your being.

"In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves for a bright manhood,
there is no such words as--fail."