The Art of Worldly Wisdom(75)

Choose a Heroic Idea. Emulate rather than imitate. There are exemplars of greatness, living texts of honor. Let every one have before his mind the chief of his calling, not so much to follow him as to spur himself on. Alexander wept not on account of Achilles dead and buried, but over himself, because his fame had not yet spread throughout the world. Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another's fame. The same thing that sharpens envy, nourishes a generous spirit.