Those who have chosen the careers that have chosen them will bear testimony to this truth. True living and real achieving can never be anything but earnest work, but it may be very far removed from unpleasantness.
And if you watch other lives you will learn, as every careful observer must, that one bears far less hardship in living the life of soul-whiteness and effective accomplishment than in trailing out a careless, heart-spotted existence, which leads to no desirable goal. The way of the transgressor of any law of holiness, of constancy, of courtesy, is hard. Life everywhere proves this.
The man who seeks for precious gems digs no deeper, fares no harder, waits no later, than he who delves after common stones, but in the end the one with the higher goal holds in his hand not merely a pretty rock—but a diamond!
Frances E. Willard, born Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839-1898), was one of the most influential women in 19th-century America. She worked tirelessly to bring about social reform in this country and around the world. Her efforts were instrumental in securing the passage of the 18th (Prohibition) and 19th (Women Suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution.
