By George Matthew Adams

Millions of you as there are, yet in truth you are so important that you may be given a world to rule. And upon your ability to rule with energy and courage, rests the dimensions of the world that shall be yours. The bigger the world, the more fun and interest, of course.

The trouble with so many human beings is that they have been brought up to the fact that they are to take their place in a world, and not specifically their world. There is no responsibility in a world, but in your world there is responsibility aplenty.

Unless you realize this fact and pick up a real, separate world somewhere and get right up into its lap as ruler, you are just going to jog along in this world as but one of many others.

So — while the picking is good - pick out a good, healthy world and own it as your own.

But where shall you find your world? Oh, right where you are. Your world is where you can do the most good and where your abilities can be mustered for the greatest variety of services in as many directions and in as thorough a manner as is possible.

Your world is where you do things and where you prove your worth. Worlds are not going to last forever, though. And if you are wise, you will get your world today. And start ruling it.

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By George Matthew Adams

"Let me sleep," was the command of Napoleon, when retiring on the eve of a great battle. "But in case of an unexpected crisis, wake me immediately!"

The Conqueror is not afraid.

General Philip Sheridan, riding his black steed over twenty miles of uncertainty during the Civil War, after being informed of the conquering enemy, had but one thought in his mind - vic-tory. So as he rode into the ranks of his terrified comrades, he cried: "Turn boys, turn — we're going back." And they went back. And won!

The Conqueror lives on crises. Striking his will against the flint of his soul, he produces the fire that spurs and drives him to his goal. He alone is the happy warrior.

The Conqueror is the visionist, the enthusiast, the determiner— the smiler!

The scrubwoman may be a Conqueror. The worker at the most menial task may be greater than any Napoleon. Glory is merely recognition.

The humdrum may have its disadvantages and discouragements — but it may father, in its way, Conquerors as great and as worth while as any of time or place.

For the Conqueror first wins all of his battleswithin his heart.

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By George Matthew Adams

So much of the judgment of human character seems to rest upon petty qualifications. "Won-derful, but -." "A fine man, but—." There are too many but, but, buts, if, if, ifs.

What we are, we are. That is pretty well established so far as our fundamentals are con-cerned. Also, what we are not, is quite as well set up as a fact.

I believe that I am quite as other people in this respect — that I want to be loved for exactly what I am. No more. I realize, all too well, that probably only about 10 percent, of what I am worth loving or admiring, but I want it to pass at that. And I believe that this is true of all of us.

Our faults tag us about as do our animal pets. And while we do not care to take them with us into all our worlds of wonder, we know that they are in a way quite a part of us and we want them to share our hospitality.

For, after all, the most impersonal things about us are many of the things that we would like to replace. While the very personal things that make up our best, we like to keep and constantly desire to improve.

So, if you want your friend, love ALL that he is.

And presently, both you and he, will appear and become much more than you either dreamed or suspected.

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By George Matthew Adams

I shall be glad when the Otherbodies in this world are greatly reduced in number. What is an Otherbody? One who cares more about what somebody else thinks than for what he thinks himself.

Tradition has a lot to do with the making of Otherbodies. False convention feeds an Otherbody.

Thought cowardice always makes an Otherbody.

No one ever heard of a leader who was an Otherbody. One is the opposite of the other. Knowing other people, experiencing their emotions, their desires, their hopes, their faith, is stimulat-ing. For we are all a part of the common heritage of time and things. But being anybody outside our wonderful selves, that is personality suicide.

Each of us is a very important creature only so long as we live ourselves into actions.

Never mind what "they" say. You do and live what YOU feel.

Be a YOURBODY!

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By George Matthew Adams

Few real men or women contend for money alone. We give that we may get. Also we get that we may give. Not in materialism, but in "Thank Yous."

Why did the soldier go "over the top"? Why was he willing to risk his life, to go through privation and suffering such as no words could ex-plain? Just for the "Thank you" that would come later, from the man who led him, from the ones who loved him, from the country that gave him birth.

The greatest things that we do in this world are done for the "Thank yous." And the bitterest disappointments are those that we endure when the "Thank you" does not come after we have rendered our service or run our race.

You are glad that you spent your money in the store if the clerk, in taking it, says "Thank you." You are glad for the little service rendered to some stranger if, at the end, you get your "Thank you." You are thrilled with the sacrifice made, if after what you have endured, you receive your "Thank you."

Spread out your "Thank yous." You can't give away too many. And here's a little secret - the more of them you give away, the more of them you have to give away. For they keep running back to

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By George Matthew Adams

I never worry about what is going to become of me after my work here on this earth is ended. I know that I make a lot of mistakes and I know that I try to do a lot of good. But my theory is that Heaven is here and now.

In fact, I like the way Jesus put it. One day He was on His way to Jerusalem and someone asked Him what the Kingdom of God was like. And, without hesitating, He replied that it was like a grain of mustard seed which a man planted and which soon grew into a tree, where birds came to lodge and rest. In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven is what you make of yourself — for the good of the world.

And to every man and woman who does but this, there is an immortality both sure and secure. Good travels a great deal faster than evil — regardless of the sneer of cynics.

There are Kingdoms of Heaven in newspaper offices, in stores, in factories, in out-of-the-way places — wherever the heart stations itself in determination to do something that shall help some one.

Every man and woman is a God-affair. Were it not so, every mystery of great achievement, every work of lasting worth, every new knowledge of advancement would be like so much loss and disaster.

The Kingdom of Heaven is — around!

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George Matthew Adams

About the strangest thing in the world is this — that though we are every last one of us exactly human, still about 90 percent of us are shy and afraid of the world and each other.

I wonder why it is? The world was made for us all. And we were made — every one of us — to be friends and to like one another. The world is big, and there is so much room for laughter and happiness, yet, how funny we are! If we dislike some particular human, we say so — generally to someone else. We call him names—and wonder why he is not like us.

Well, the biggest reason why he is not like us, is probably because we are not like him. We are all about the same in feeling and in desire.

We long for and work toward about the same things. We are all — just human — after all. I wish we knew each other better. I wish we were more tolerant, more generous, more helpful, more desirous to give instead of to get.

I would that everybody's business belonged to us only in so far as we could help and love and make it easier and more beautiful for them. The greatest business in the world is smile-making. And the greatest profession, smile-giving.

People hide behind hate and meanness — but never behind smiles! So let's do what we can today to light up the world — most of all, our particular place of work and standing —with SMILE-shine.

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By George Matthew Adams

One reason why I am writing this little talk is that I often long to be a boy again. I know just how you feel, my boy, because I felt exactly that way.

I wanted bigger folks to tell me things and to talk with me about things which I did not know. But they didn't. I had to pick them up, one by one, the same as you will have to.

You were made a boy, instead of a man, so that you might grow up. Everything comes about little by little. So while you are a boy — be a boy!

Play and work and smile: Be a good friend to the other fellows and a good sport always. Give and take. Then you will always have friends.

Go in for every healthy sport. Keep clean in body and in mind. Learn to work with your hands, as well as to use your head. Think before you start to do anything — then go ahead and do it the best that you know how.

No matter what kind of a home you have come from, try to make it a better one by giving something good and helpful back to it.

Be kind to your Mother. What she has given to you from her heart through her love, is greater than anything else you will ever have.

Always be gentle and manly to womanhood and old age. The finer a boy becomes in this respect, the greater man he is sure to be. And remember that no matter what you choose for your life work, if it is something useful, it will be worth while.

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By George Matthew Adams

I saw a juggler. He was the most wonderful artist in his line that I had ever seen. He threw great knives into the air by the dozen, caught them all, and actually played with them while they paced a circle in the air.

I watched a dancer, whose lithe form seemed like that of some super-fairy just dropped from Imaginary-land. Her form moved in perfect unison with the notes that gave rhythm to her movements.

I listened to a man play upon a strange instrument. It seemed as though the tones played hide and seek — and then, like lightning, they would meet again, to trot in single, now double, now triple file, while the audience sat spellbound. The crowd applauded, while I sat fascinated, wondering about the secret of it all.

And this was the secret — work!

Houdini, the great magician, once interestingly told about the methods he used in attaining his marvelous success, how, on reaching a town where he was to perform, he immediately hired a loft, put up his traps and began to — work! And how, on trains, he sat for hours and evolved new tricks and mysteries, with which to dazzle millions the next season.

The greatest actor I ever saw was Joseph Jefferson. I never felt that he played a part — he was the part.

There never was, and there never will be, a royal road to achievement. But the road called "work" is free to all — any man may walk with impunity over it, without one word of apology.

If you want the immortal gods on your side — work. If you want your dreams to come true — work!

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By George Matthew Adams

All life is a compromise. It doesn't sound fine to say so but nothing is so blunt as the truth. We are constantly "trimming" in order to get — for we can give nothing unless we get. It takes a big person to "trade."

But that is exactly what the finest forces in nature do. They exchange, they die, they give up, in order that something better may pass by and on. It's so with character. It's so with the rising of a nation. It is a vital part of the plan of civilization and of all progress.

If you have something to "put across," waste as little time as possible. Make the best terms that you can and — get it through. For there is always something more important waiting to be done. Quibbling eats up time. Useless discussion ofttimes embitters. Make the best terms you know how. Then, having made them, stick to them.

Decision is a quality that belongs alone to the strong. It was Luther who once said: "Here I take my stand, God help me!" This great man achieved what he did by coming quickly to the best possible terms. Read his life and you will know.

Make the best terms with life of which you are capable. You will never have another life. At least not around here. But be fair. Be just. Be honorable. And always remember that really it is easier to do right than to do wrong — easier to win than to fail.

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