Theodore Roosevelt took a positive approach to life, which can be summarized as “do what you can with what you have, where you are”. In other words, when you are seeking success, use every available resource.

Theodore Roosevelt had no time for quitters or complainers. 【小题1】 Every task, every goal, and every dream can be achieved. All you need to do is take your first step by using what you have around you.

Do not make excuses for not doing something. Instead, give all the reasons for setting out to complete the task. 【小题2】 Giving up is not one of those alternatives. The reason why neither quitters nor complainers achieve success is that they continuously find excuses for not doing something. When you are going for success, don’t give yourself excuses. Instead, challenge yourself.

Making the best of what you are given is encouraging. Achieving success through working to find different ways of doing a task or overcoming a problem will make you feel good. Your self-belief and confidence will rise. 【小题3】

Theodore Roosevelt was a great advocate of self-discipline. He believed that if we could not control our own lives, how could we lead others? 【小题4】 For example, taking a morning run is good for your health, but lazing in bed is an attractive alternative. Without self-discipline, you’ll hesitate over running daily, but if you have it, you’ll be able to exercise regularly.

【小题5】 Once you know what you want to do, and how you intend to carry your plan out, you will introduce discipline into your life. You will be able to focus on your way forward and know that you have the self-discipline to carry on.

After years of observing human nature, I have decided that two qualities make the difference between men of great achievement and men of average performance: curiosity and discontent. I have never known an outstanding man who lacked either. And I have never known an average man who had both. The two belong together.

Together, these deep human urges (驱策力) count for much more than ambition. Galileo was not merely ambitious when he dropped objects of varying weights from the Leaning Tower at Pisa and timed their fall to the ground. Like Galileo, all the great names in history were curious and asked in discontent, “Why? Why? Why?”

Fortunately curiosity and discontent don’t have to be learned. We are born with them and need only recapture them.

“The great man,” said Mencius (孟子), “is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” Yet most of us do lose it. We stop asking questions. We stop challenging custom. We just follow the crowd. And the crowd desires restful average. It encourages us to occupy our own little comer, to avoid foolish leaps into the dark, to be satisfied.

Most of us meet new people, and new ideas, with hesitation. But once having met and liked them, we think how terrible it would have been, had we missed the chance. We will probably have to force ourselves to waken our curiosity and discontent and keep them awake.

How should you start? Modestly, so as not to become discouraged. I think of one friend who couldn’t arrange flowers to satisfy herself. She was curious about how the experts did it. Now she is one of the experts, writing books on flower arrangement.

One way to begin is to answer your own excuses. You haven’t any special ability? Most people don’t. There are only a few geniuses. You haven’t any time? That’s good, because it’s always the people with no time who get things done. Harriet Stowe, mother of six, wrote parts of Uncle Tom’s Cabin while cooking. You’re too old? Remember that Thomas Costain was 57 when he published his first novel, and that Grandma Moses showed her first pictures when she was 78.

However you start, remember there is no better time to start than right now, for you’ll never be more alive than you are at this moment.

Dream in Heart

On the first day of school our professor introduced a new classmate—a wrinkled little old lady—to us. Her name was Rose, and she was eighty-seven years old.

After class Rose and I walked to the Student Union Building and shared a chocolate milk-shake. She told me she always dreamed of having a college education and now she was getting one. We became instant friends. Every day for the following months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always attracted, listening to this “ time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Rose became famous and easily made friends wherever she went. She tended to be highly motivated,responsible, and deeply involved in class participation. In spare time she had someone hang out or go to bars with. She even participated in some form of athletic activity. She said that extra-curricular activities can form a vital part of her experience, creating unique chances for friendship and learning.

At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football meal. A little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “ I’ m sorry I’ m so nervous.” As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began, “ We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you’ re nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year, you will turn twenty. If I’ m eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. It’ s non-optional but that doesn’ t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the chance in change. In this way the elderly don’ t have regrets for what they did, but rather for things they did not do.” Rose concluded her speech by courageously singing “ The Rose” . She challenged us to study the words of the song and lived them out in daily lives.

At the year’ s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in honor of the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’ s never too late to be all you can possibly be.