--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 5 number: 2 published: 1901-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Choice Selections," *Improvement Era* 5, no. 2 (December 1901): 104.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0502unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0502unse start_page: 104 end_page: 104 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1901-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0502unse publication_year: 1901 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1901, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Choice Selections — CHOICE SELECTIONS. The Punishment of Indolence* One of the saddest sights in the world is that of a soul which has been starved by indolence, an undeveloped, stunted man, who has never sufficiently exerted himself to unfold his godlike power, to cultivate his finer sentiments and faculties. It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad, in order to make a failure of life, simple inaction will accomplish it. Nature has everjrwhere written her protest against idleness; everything which ceases to struggle, which remains inactive, rapidly deteri- orates. It is the struggle toward an ideal, the constant effort to get higher and further, which develops manhood and character. All occupations and avenues of endeavor are overcrowded to the indolent, the nerveless and the incompetent. There is no room anjrwhere for a lazy man without sufficient ambition to enable him to rise. The world is looking for the man who can produce results, the leader, the aggressive man, and the man who has a purpose. No field is overcrowded for the original man who can think for him- self and is not afraid of hard work. The young men who are cry- ing that there is no chance, that the trusts have ruined their opportunities, would not succeed anjrwhere. The cry of overcrowded positions is a bugbear only to the weak and the incompetent. Those who feel the power within them to make their place in the world never give "no chance" as an ex- cuse for inaction. Success.