All of us can recall such examples in our own experience. Don't risk
it, therefore, young man. Why take the chance? for even if you
discover no taste for it, you will find that there is nothing in it,
after all. Why this hazard of your powers, just to find out whether
you can resist? It is a one-sided gamble, is it not? Even fools refuse
to play when they know that the dice may be loaded.
Don't think that you have got to be a great public man, or a big
politician, or a celebrated scientist, or distinguished in any line,
before these practical truths apply to you. You must build your whole
life upon them from the very beginning. For example, I know a man who
for several years has been exercising ever-increasing power in his
State. He selects his lieutenants with greatest possible care,
consulting with trained advisers about the qualifications of each man
to whom any political work is to be trusted.
Very well. The first question asked always is, "Does he drink?" If he
does, that fact strikes a black line through his name. He is no longer
considered, no matter how capable and energetic he may be otherwise.
For, ordinarily, another man just as effective can be found who does
not have this defect.
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