712 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-CREATIONvictory. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world
-and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities will make a two-
legged creature a man without ie'
Author Donald G. Mitchell has well said: "Resolve is what makes
a man manifest. Not puny resolve; not crude determinations; not
errant purposes-but that strong and indefatigable will which treads
down difficulties and danger, as a boy treads down the heaving frost-
lands of winter, which kindles his eye and brain with proud pulse-beat
toward the unattainable. Will makes men giants!"
The great Benjamin Disraeli said: "I have brought myself, by long
meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled pur-
pose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will
stake even existence upon its fulfillmene'
Sir John Simpson said: "A passionate desire and an unwearied will
can perform impossibilities, or what may seem to be such to the cold,
timid and feeble:'
And John Foster adds his testimony when he says: "It is won-
derful how even the casualties of life seem to bow to a spirit that will
not bow to them, and yield to subserve a design which they may, in
their first apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate. When a firm, decisive
spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a
man and leaves him room and freedom:'
Abraham Lincoln said of General Grant: "The great thing about
Grant is his cool persistency of purpose. He is not easily excited, and
he has got the grip of a bulldog. When he once gets his teeth in,
nothing can shake him off'
It seems appropriate to state here that a strong desire, to be
transformed into reality, must be backed with persistency until it is
taken over by the subconscious mind. It is not enough to feel very
deeply the desire for achievement of a Definite Chief Aim, for just a
few hours or a few days. The desire must be placed in the mind and
held there-with persistence that knows no defeat-until the auto-
matic or subconscious mind takes it over. Up to this point you must