Self-made man

“ There is no intended disparagement of the self-made man. He is, and always has been, the best intellectual product of the age. The greatest statesmen, philosophers, scientists, writers, and other men of genius have been self-made or self-cultured. ”

“ I have sometimes been credited with having been the architect of my own fortune, and have pretty generally received the title of a “self-made man;” and while I cannot altogether disclaim this title, when I look back over the facts of my life, and consider the helpful influences exerted upon me, by friends more fortunately born and educated than myself, I am compelled to give them at least an equal measure of credit, with myself, for the success which has attended my labors in life. ”

“ The Kingship of Self-Control an has two creators,—his God and himself. His first creator furnishes him the raw material of his life and the laws in conformity with which he can make that life what he will. His second creator,—himself,—has marvellous powers he rarely realizes. It is what a man makes of himself that counts.
When a man fails in life he usually says, “I am as God made me.” When he succeeds he proudly proclaims himself a “self-made man.” Man is placed into this world not as a finality,—but as a possibility. ”

“ Sparks as a self-made man I use the phrase in a sense of intellectual progress and success, founded on self-relying discipline,—of mental culture and mental fruit, bringing him up to honorable fame from low obscurity,—making him a lasting power in our nation, nay, throughout the world, in our best society, in our literature, in our institutions of learning ”

“ He had quite decided to be a self-made man. That was simple enough. The question that troubled him was what sort of a self-made man to be! A Newton? A Shakespeare? A Stephenson? A Turner? An Arkwright? ”

“ Certainly the attempt to work our way up to heaven is “climbing up some other way,” is it not? If ever a man did succeed in working his way into heaven we should never hear the last of it! I have got so terribly sick of these so-called “self-made men.” There are some men whom you cannot approach without hearing them blow their trumpet, saying, “I am a self-made man. ”

“ Well, I’m not in love with the undertaking, for what we call a self-made man usually shows that he has made a pretty poor fist of it when he begins to describe the job himself. However, if an outline of my life be of service, I give it gladly. ”

“ Is man so little influenced by circumstances and so greatly moulded by his own will that he can consciously assume to be master of his own fortunes? The self-made man is subject to attacks of assurance which awaken in him an anxiety to tell others how he accomplished it—it referring to any achievement from making a large fortune to writing a popular song. ”

“ The self-made man in so many cases worships his maker that he forgets the divinity that doth hedge a king. The man above may be no better, perhaps not as good, morally, mentally, physically and socially, but officially he is the superior in fact as well as in name. ”

“ Before an academical audience it is not necessary for me to stop to clear away the popular notions about untutored powers and self-made men. It is enough to say that the “self-made” man is, by the definition, the first bungling essay of a bad workman. An undeveloped human mind is simply a bundle of possibilities. ”

“ Besides, he acquires, through his practical life, local and peculiar knowledge, so that when one converses with a man in this country, one is always sure of learning something; and should he have received from Mother Nature a seed of a higher humanity, then shoot up, as if of themselves, those beautiful examples of mankind and man, which adorn the earth with an almost perfected humanity, some of which I have become acquainted with under the denomination of “self-made men.” ”

“ It was an idea early adopted by him that a "self-made man" was the highest type of the race, and to him a self-made man was one who worked like the original Creator—made everything out of nothing and called it all very good. ”

“ A good deal of brag and congratulation is let loose once in a while about "the self-made man." It always reminds me of the barker in front of the museum. He bawls out, "Walk right up, ladies and gentlemen. ”

“ Here, on the other hand, the reverse is the rule; the self-made man accomplishes- 297 - most, as instanced by the history of our presidents, governors, financiers and other distinguished men. And this is quite natural, for the prospects and possibilities which a man sees before him in this country stimulate his ambition, and arouse his energies to surmount the greatest difficulties. ”

“ GRAMMAR, n. A system of pitfalls thoughtfully prepared for the feet for the self-made man, along the path by which he advances to distinction. ”

“ Traveling by such rugged steps he did not come upon the stage of manhood a mere hot-house production of opulence, but an earnest, laborious youth, gradually developed into a self-made, self-reliant man. ”

“ Such persons by native ability and hard work often attain to high positions of honor and trust in the various professions, and win for themselves the title of 'self-made.'
"Yet because a man by his brains, energy, and pluck carves out his own fortune, putting himself in a prominent position, is it not very desirable that he should also cultivate the courtesies of life so that the talent be not hidden by roughness and uncultivated bearing." ”

“ Before she could reply, in walked that self-same dude, Percy Chamberlain, with a duplicate bunch of violets.
And straightway he pranced up to Millie and held out the flowers, with a low bow.
“Will you accept these flowers, Miss Price? Bought them expressly for you, don’t you know.”
Millie was astonished.
“Why, hello, George Augustus Fitzwilliam!” exclaimed Jack, dropping the paper and gliding over to the dude clerk, whose left hand he seized and shook as if he were some long-lost friend. “We haven’t seen you for two whole days. Where have you been keeping yourself?” ”

“ If we take the pains to look about us, we shall find every avenue of human endeavor occupied by self-made men. These men originated in the most humble surroundings, but lifted themselves up through the sheer force of their own energy of character and vital force backed by persistence. ”

“ Fame and Fortune Weekly
STORIES OF BOYS WHO MAKE MONEY Issued Weekly—By Subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1905, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C., by Frank Tousey, Publisher, 24 Union Square, New York.
A Corner in Corn;
OR,
HOW A CHICAGO BOY DID THE TRICK. By A SELF-MADE MAN.
CHAPTER I. IN THE ROOKERY BUILDING.
“Has Vance returned yet?” asked Jared Whitemore, a stout, florid-complexioned man of sixty-five, opening the door of his private office and glancing into the outside room. ”

“ And then I looked into a Court of Law—then into a Church—then went upon ’Change,—and in every place tried to divide man from his double or false man—from the artificial twin-self that so often walks about the world with him in profane places, and sometimes in sacred temples. ”

“ Jericho. “They’re wearing him to a shadow. He’ll never be himself so long as he’s in that horrid Commons. He must retire into the Upper House. He’s losing all his substance in Acts of Parliament. And what—what indeed does anybody care? Except ourselves,” said Mrs. Jericho, with self-correction—“except ourselves. And, dear Sir Arthur, I know your friendship—I know your sympathy: that Mr. Jericho, in all his trials, in all his anxieties for the country, that he may always depend upon.” ”

“ He had probably been gone a couple of minutes and Dick was watching the pretty stranger for perhaps the hundredth time, when something startling occurred which changed the whole aspect of affairs in the twinkling of an eye.
A tremendous shock stopped the train’s momentum and piled the cars on top of each other, hurling a couple down the embankment into the river, almost every car becoming a shapeless wreck, and human beings, full of life and hope a moment before, were suddenly ushered into eternity or maimed and mangled for life. ”

“ Like most self-made men, who have made their mark in life’s pilgrimage, he set himself to work to improve himself—to acquire that which would expand his mind, and fit it to receive any new inspiration, and be able to develop it. ”

“ If she had but clutched the old Roman and young American weapon, and come to close quarters, there might have been a chance for her; but it would have spoiled the best passage in "The Pleasures of Hope."
——Self-made men?—Well, yes. Of course every body likes and respects self-made men. It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all. ”

“ Superiority makes every man feel its equal. It is courtesy without condescension; [Pg 090] affability without familiarity; self-sufficiency without selfishness; simplicity without snide. It weighs sixteen ounces to the pound without the package, and it doesn’t need a four-colored label to make it go. ”

“ This Weekly contains interesting stories of smart boys, who win fame and fortune by their ability to take advantage of passing opportunities. Some of these stories are founded on true incidents in the lives of our most successful self-made men, and show how a boy of pluck, perseverance and brains can become famous and wealthy. ”

“ I have no such expectation."
"Good luck, like trouble, often comes upon us unaware. At this moment you are close to a fortune in money."
"The dickens I am! I'm afraid you're making a mistake there."
"It is so written in your hand and will come to pass."
She dropped Dick's hand and the seance was over.
"Your hand is, on the whole, a lucky one," she said. "The fates smiled on you at your birth. Favorable planets were in happy aspect. Saturn alone casts its malignant influence across your life's path, but will not prevail." ”

“ A young man of your ability can be made useful to me in many ways, and the experience will be of great value to yourself. You are young. The world is before you. The obligations under which you have placed me by your attention to my only child under the most trying of circumstances make me desirous of interesting myself in your future career. Will you give me the opportunity of doing so?”
Dick was both surprised and pleased at the proposition, and he accepted it at once. ”

“ In the meantime, Otis Clymer, thinking of the ill-luck which had led to his recognition and the probable failure of his scheme to get square with Dr. Fox, made the best time he could in the direction of the small hotel kept by Dave Plunkett down near the river which ran by the town.
The Plunkett House was the one eyesore of Sackville.
All self-respecting people considered it a disgrace to the town. ”

“ You might as well lean back and let him have his say, for he has only been waiting all this time for an opening in the conversation to insert the wedge of his Ego.
It seems to be the prerogative of some self-made men not only to boast of themselves, their wives, their sons, their daughters, their houses, their horses—everything!—but to decry all methods of achievement not their own, and all successes not won by their methods. These are the self-made men who bring into disrepute all the grandeur and glorious achievement of their kind. ”

“ Vance instinctively paused.
“That’s right. I see you’ve got some common-sense,” said Vyce grimly.
“What brought you here?” asked the boy, playing for time.
“Business?”
“Well?”
“You observe this cylinder? It contains a small stick of dynamite. If you do what I tell you it goes back into my pocket; if you refuse—the newspapers will have a new sensation, that’s all.”
“You seem to forget,” said Vance, coolly, “that dynamite is like an overloaded shotgun—it works at both ends. If you drop that thing in this room there isn’t a ghost of a chance for you to escape yourself.” ”

“ I have no kith or kin to whom my death would be a blow. I am entirely alone in the world. At one time it was different, and I was well off; but now my team and the few dollars in my pocket-book represent all my earthly possessions. My boy, I have been thinking of you while I have been stretched on my back. You are beginning life quite as friendless, I might say, as I am leaving it. But you appear to have energy and the capacity for hard work. ”

“ Then Dick told him the whole story of what he had learned at the old deserted farmhouse.
“You are a good boy—a brave boy,” said the poor old miser, shaking the lad by the hand in a pitiful way, for he appeared to have but little strength after the shock he had sustained. “If I wasn’t so very, very poor, I’d reward you.”
“Don’t worry about that,” replied Dick, with a cheerfulness that put the old man more at his ease. “If you’ll let us stay here for the rest of the night, it’s all we want.” ”

“ Each one represented 500 shares of the Gopher Gold Mining Company, of Bullfrog, Nevada.
At the sight of them Tuggs seemed to brighten up a bit.
“Do you want to buy them?” he asked, eagerly.
“What are they worth?” asked Jack, smiling at the idea of a messenger boy being able to acquire even 500 shares of any reputable mining stock.
“Millions!” exclaimed the old man.
“That settles it,” thought the boy. “He’s crazy, sure.”
“Why don’t you sell them to somebody that’s got the money to pay for them. You look as if you needed the cash,” said Jack, aloud.
“Nobody will buy them,” replied Tuggs, sadly. ”

“ You seem to be a born speculator, like your father. I have long wished to associate with me a young man of nerve and accurate foresight in whom I could thoroughly depend. You appear to combine all the qualities in question. On this trip you are bound to acquire knowledge of the most confidential nature—information that could not but seriously embarrass me if it became known to my business opponents. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” said Vance, with a serious face. ”

“ She had drawn the money at two o’clock, and Jack had found it close on to four.
It seemed incredible that an envelope containing such a large sum of money could have laid on the sidewalk of a prominent thoroughfare like Wall Street, glanced at and walked over by many people, and yet no one had had the curiosity to pick it up.
“What is your name?” asked Mrs. Breeze.
“Jack Hazard, madam.”
“You are an honest boy. I am sure you have a good mother and that she is very proud of you. This money you have returned to me is the savings of our entire life. ”