There were many men centuries ago who, in an abstract kind of
way, knew that the earth was round. Their imaginations led them
to the discovery of facts--and long before Galileo's recantation
many men knew vaguely the truth of what he taught.
It took Galileo, a man of great imagination, not a dreamer, to
demonstrate his truth to all the world.
It took Columbus, with imagination and courage, but none of the
dreamer about him, to sail around the world to America and prove
practically what is now known to every child.
Wherever you see great material success on a new line, you see
imagination without dreaming. It took real power of imagination
in Rockefeller to conceive and execute the construction of the
Standard Oil monopoly.
It took the financial imagination of Morgan to conceive the idea
of taking $500,000,000 worth of steel mills and welding them into
the Steel Trust--no dreamer could have done this thing.
Many a dreamer had foreseen the steam engine, the steamboat and
other great inventions, without result. At the right moment
a man of imagination like Fulton came along and did the actual
work that the dreamer could not do.
If you want to succeed in the world, cultivate your imagination.
And if you want your children to succeed encourage them in the
development of their imaginations.
Pages:
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292