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6. A leader is proud of his reputation. He wouldn't dream
of frequenting any low "dives" or being seen in company
with low characters. He knows that "birds of a feather
flock together" and is too proud to cultivate any except
high-class friends. He pays his bills on the dot, lives up
to his word, is the soul of honor, and in every way strives
to be in truth a "man of distinction."
He subscribes to Shakespeare's wonderful charge—
BE PROUD OF YOURSELF 251
This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
ADVICE FROM THE MASTERS
Read what some of the great minds of the past have thought about this thing of self-respect or pride in oneself—
Montaigne said, "I care not so much what I am in the opinion of others as what I am in my own; I would be rich of myself and not by borrowing."
Pythagoras said, "Above all things, reverence yourself."
Tennyson—"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, these three alone lead life to sovereign power."
Bacon wrote, "The reverence of man's self is, next to religion, the chiefest bridle of all vices."
Seneca wrote, "When thou has profited so much that thou respectest thyself, thou mayest let go thy tutor."
Schiller—"Everyone stamps his own value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will."
And finally from "Ramona" by Helen Hunt Jackson— "Wounded vanity knows when it is mortally hurt; and limps off the field, piteous, all disguises thrown away. But pride carries its banner to the last."
A SOURCE OF STRENGTH
A man with a fierce pride in himself won't give up without fighting to the end. The salesman who's too proud to fail will work like a Trojan to come out on top. Cultivate this wonderful quality. Remind yourself that the results of acting with pride will bring you victory, and that an apologetic attitude will spell defeat.
252 BE PROUD OF YOURSELF
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS CHAPTER
1. All men are proud of something. If our pride is aimed in
the right direction, it is a powerful force.
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