"
"I cannot understand," as blow fell upon blow, "why I should
suffer in this way."
"Wait; what thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter."
And out of all this came the famous Koh-i-noor to sparkle in the
monarch's crown. ----
There is a lesson in the story of the diamond for every man, and
there is an ESPECIALLY good lesson for the young man who is
succeeding too fast.
That diamond became the extraordinarily beautiful stone that we
read about, and that many of us would foolishly like to own,
because of the trials through which it passed.
We do not mean to suggest that men, to succeed, should
NECESSARILY undergo repeated poundings and hammerings,
although, as a matter of fact, the really great men of the world
have undergone such grinding and polishing and hard knocks as no
diamond was ever submitted to. But we do say distinctly that
almost every man needs in the course of his life a FIRST-CLASS
FAILURE.
No man is more unfortunate than he who succeeds too quickly and
too easily. His success makes him exaggerate his own importance
and ability. It makes him underestimate the strength of those
who compete with him, and the difficulty of winning in the long
run.
The world is full of all kinds of disappointed beings--artists,
writers, business men--workers of all sorts, who lead
disappointed lives.
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