--- 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: 9 number: 1 published: 1905-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Notes," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 1 (November 1905): 67.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0901unse 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: improvementera0901unse start_page: 67 end_page: 67 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0901unse publication_year: 1905 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 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Notes NOTES. He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathe love Unless one can use his wisdom for the betterment of mankind it is selfish to be wise. The disposition to give a cup of cold water to a disciple is a far nobler prop- erty than the finest intellect. Howell. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. Emerson. The best capital for a boy is not money, but the love of work, simple tastes, and a heart loyal to his friends and God. American Boy. One of the most unfortunate delusions that ever found its way into a youth's brain is that there is some force or power inside of himself that will, in some mys- terious way, and with very little effort on his part, lift him into a position of com- fort and luxury. I never knew any one who followed the ignis fatuus, "luck," — who did not follow it to his ruin. "Good luck" follows good sense, good judg- ment, good health, a gritty determination, a lofty ambition, and downright hard work. When you see horses in a race, you know perfectly well that the one in the lead is ahead because he has run faster than the others, and you would not have much sympathy for the horse behind if he should bemoan his fate and declare that the horse ahead had a snap When you see any one doing better than you are doing under similar circum- stances, just say to yourself, ' 'There must be some reason for it. There is a secret back of it, and I must find it out. ' ' Do not try to ease your conscience or lull your ambition by pleading "hard luck" for yourself, or good fortune for another. ' Napoleon said that ' 'God is always on the side of the strongest battalions. He is always on the side of the best prepared, the best trained, the most vigilant, the pluckiest and the most determined. If we would examine the careers of most men who are called "lucky," we should find that their success has its roots far back in the past, and has drawn its nourishment from many a battle in the struggle for supremacy over poverty and opposition. We should probably find that the "lucky" man is a closer thinker than the ' 'unlucky' ' man ; that he has a finer judgment, that he has more system and order; —that his brain acts more definitely and concisely, that he thinks more logically, more vigorously, and that he is more practical. Life is not a game of chance. The Creator did not put us where we would be the sport of circumstances, to .be tossed about by a cruel fate, regardless of our own efl'orts. 0. S. Marden, — IN Success.