"
--GOETHE.
Peace in the heart is one of the conditions of good work. We cannot do
our best in anything if we are fretted and anxious. A feverish heart
makes an inflamed brain, a clouded eye, and an unsteady hand. The
people who really accomplish the most, and achieve the best results,
are those of calm, self-controlled spirit. Those who are nervous and
excited may be always busy, and always under pressure of haste; but in
the end they do far less work than if they wrought calmly and steadily,
and were never in a hurry.
Nervous haste is always hindering haste. It does faulty work, and does
but little of it in the end. Really rapid workers are always
deliberate in their movements, never appearing to be in any hurry
whatever; and yet they pass swiftly from task to task, doing each duty
well because they are calm and unflustered, and, with their wits about
them, work with clear eye, steady nerve, and skilful hand.
An eminent French surgeon used to say to his students, when they were
engaged in difficult and delicate operations, in which coolness and
firmness were needed, "Gentlemen, don't be in a hurry; for there's no
time to lose."
The people in all lines of duty who do the most work are the calmest,
most unhurried people in the community. Duties never wildly chase each
other in their lives. One task never crowds another out, nor ever
compels hurried, and therefore imperfect, doing.
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