Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: [Prospectuses, 1864/5 to 1883/4]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.
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![^1 is accidental, and contriving to be, if not always liglit, yet never far or dangerously wrong. And some are very laboi-ioiisly attentive to tlieir cases; always on the watch ; never tiring in their endeavours to do good; so tliat even when they fail, nay, even when they do harm, then* fault is condoned, and they earn great gratitude for their manifestly good intentions. But, above all, those who most augment the value of their know- ledge are the men who are most attentive to their business, never away from work, always punctual, prudent, careful, and, in one word well understood in Leeds, business-like. This is, indeed, the turn of mind which, next to knowledge, is most essential to just success. I will not say that attention to business, or any other form or degree of industry, can at once command the highest success in life; but I believe that without it the highest success is never gained; without it there is no full success for genius, or intellect, or virtue—no, nor yet for dishonesty or eccentricity. The upshot of all this, and of all that could be said on the matter is, not to throw doubt on the belief that knowledo'e is the best and surest way to success in our profession, but to show that there are, on the one side, mental defects which may spoil the rights of knowledge, and, on the other, good habits of mind which may gi-eatly enhance its efficacy. The lesson you may find in this is very plain. There is nothing incompatible in intellect and good temper. Knowledge and good manners are not mutually exclusive: the same mind may be scientific and business-like. Cultivate, then, these good habits—not, indeed, as substitutes for knowledge, but as its gracious and most useful companions. Remember that courtesy, and kindly atten- ti(jn, and careful regard for tlie feelings of others, are among the best social forms of that Christian (rliarity which is the very bond of pcrfectness. These, then, seem to me the real elements of success in oui- profession. Why should you not have them all ? Well, if 1 may judge of you from myself, the hindrances are iud(jlence and the unrca^sonable desire oi' easy ])leiisure—hindrances which not even the Ijetter pleasures of knowledge, nor tlie desire of success, nor even stem necessity, are always sufficient to induce](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21507326_0031.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
