The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference between men, the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy and invincible determination. Copyright , , BY Thomas Y. Napoleon said, "My maxim has always been, a career open to talent without distinction of birth. Napoleon was poor, and often without employment in early life, but his industry, good judgment, will, and ambition carried him to the heights of power.
Nelson was the son of a minister, whose salary did not support his numerous family, but his boy had the energy and force that won success.
Bunyan, a travelling tinker, twelve years a prisoner in Bedford jail, could, while poor and in prison, write a book that is read more than any other in the world, save the Bible. Arnold, through love for his work, and his untiring energy and good sense, became the ideal teacher. Kingsley, the Christian socialist, knowing that the pulpit must help in the solution of the labor problem, lived and preached the brotherhood of man.
Sherman, the son of a widow, adopted by his father's [Pg vi] friend, had early failures, and won his place of distinction with Grant and Sheridan by his own ability. Phillips Brooks, whose death was an irreparable loss, made his way even more by his sincerity and unselfishness than by his eloquence.
Napoleon, who was especially fond of biography and history, was always eager to learn what qualities produced greatness or success. Perhaps some will find it interesting to trace in these pages what enabled these men to be leaders in various fields. But Napoleon, who rose as high as any of them, began life as an obscure provincial, almost as a man without a country. It is this marvellousness which paralyzes our judgment. We seem to see at once a genius beyond all estimate, a unique character, and a fortune utterly unaccountable.
