George Matthew Adams: ON STARTING ALL OVER

Thursday, October 21, 2010

ON STARTING ALL OVER

Gettysburg Times - Apr 24, 1926

ON STARTING ALL OVER
By GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS

One of my friends, who is a famous writer, Don Herold by name, told me the other day that he had discarded all his idea files and memoranda slips, and that now he just wanted a clean mind and a clean piece of paper.

I have thought a great deal of my friend's statement. I wonder if most of us wouldn't profit if we started each day with a clean mind and a clean piece of paper.

The trouble with many of us is that we carry too much with us as we go along until we get our lives themselves all cluttered up and confused.

I have a friend who never gets stampeded. He cleans up as he goes. He seems ready at all times for the handling of a big or small problem. I often consult him feeling the strength of his superior control.

I have noted that when catastrophe or misfortune comes to such a part he never flinches and though all may be wiped from under his feet, he stands on his feet as nobly proud as before—and just goes on to rebuild better for all that he has lost.

Chicago and San Francisco built greater and better after having been burned and earthquaked.

That man or woman whose character has been through the fire, tried, tested and refined, has something to show the world for it all. And such people nearly always live to prove their worth.

It is no disgrace to start all over. It's usually an opportunity.

A clean mind, a clean piece of paper, an appreciation of all worth and goodness, of all beauty in this world, is something that no legacy no matter how rich or great, could possibly give.

George Matthew Adams was a newspaper columnist, author, writer, philosopher and publisher who founded the Adams Newspaper Service in 1907. He is the author of several books and "You Can" is the most famous of his works.

Mr. Adams became a well-know columnist with his "Today's Talk" which was a kind of short essay he would write for sundry newspapers and had an inspirational appeal for the average American citizen of the time. His syndicate supplied features to many newspapers worldwide for more than fifty years.

Furthermore, it is known that Mr. Adams owned a collection of rare etchings and more than 5000 books, many of them first editions.

Mr. Adams on etchings:

"Etchings early appealed to me because of their intimate character. Some of them seem to have been etched from the heart."

Mr Adams on books:

"I walk all over many of the books I read. Anyone who comes across them after I am through with them will see my tracks. That is, my pencil tracks, which, in reality are the tracks of my mind at it travels through a book."

"I am certain that anything with the word book attached to it will ever be interesting and fascinating to me."

George Matthew Adams passed away on 1962.

QUOTES BY GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS:

* He who does not get fun and enjoyment out of every day ... needs to reorganize his life.

* If you have nothing else to do, look about you and see if there isn't something close at hand that you can improve! It may make you wealthy, though it is more likely that it will make you happy.

* Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.

* No matter what our ambition, that ambition must be fed, daily, without a break. Desires vanish quickly, unless they are fed.

* The hero becomes a hero because he put something into the world that we would like to have put there.

* We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves.

* Each day can be one of triumph if you keep up your interests.

* Just be yourself and you will not only be unique in a large way, but you will be an honest expression of a human being.

* Books express much of the personality of the author, so that we often feel we know him, in a rather intimate fashion.

* Devotion to the simple things of life, and to beauty, is what ennobles character and puts a glow to the very countenance. You can always tell from the smile of a person whether there is happiness imbedded in the heart.

* I WISH there were not so many unhappy people in the world. Cheerfulness is power and something that feeds the soul.

* Every human being should be free to choose his own way of life, and select his own sphere of influence, just as long as he does not encroach upon the same individual rights of his fellow man.

* It's what each of us shows, and how, that gives to us character and prestige. Seeds of kindness, goodwill, and human understanding, planted in fertile soil, spring up into deathless friendships, big deeds of worth, and a memory that will not soon fade.

* If love is the greatest thing in the world, then hate is the greatest evil, for hate is the opposite of love. Love attracts, hate repels. Love is life, hate is death. Hate is the worst waste that can enter a human soul.

* If newspapers printed nothing but news, the readers would be sour and depressed.

* It is fine to forgive and forget so far as in your power lies, but to be highly tuned to the receipt of beautiful words from a warm and understanding heart is to own one of the finest gifts God gives to human beings.

* He who understands does not resent. Resentment is the play of little minds.

* It is better to aim for Perfection and miss it, than to aim at Imperfection and hit it.

* Opportunity is kinder to folks than folks are to it. Is it in the cycle of events that a man should not be used too hard, but that chance after chance should be given him to prove his worth—only to allow him to fail after his mettle has proved too unworthy.

* Every one of us, unconsciously, works out a personal philosophy of life, by which we are guided, inspired, and corrected, as time goes on. It is this philosophy by which we measure out our days, and by which we advertise to all about us the man, or woman, that we are. . . . It takes but a brief time to scent the life philosophy of anyone. It is defined in the conversation, in the look of the eye, and in the general mien of the person. It has no hiding place. It's like the perfume of the flower — unseen, but known almost instantly. It is the possession of the successful, and the happy. And it can be greatly embellished by the absorption of ideas and experiences of the useful of this earth.

* Each day of your life, as soon as you open your eyes in the morning, you can square away for a happy and successful day. It's the mood and the purpose at the inception of each day that are the important facts in charting your course for the day. We can always square away for a fresh start, no matter what the past has been. It's today that is the paramount problem always. Yesterday is but history.