Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/123

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Chapter VIII
Interpretation

Who hath sailed about the world of his own heart, sounded each creek, surveyed each corner, but that there still remains therein much terra incognita to himself? (Thomas Fuller, The Holy and the Profane State.)

Lord, and how some of us do imagine ourselves misunderstood, when the trouble is that we are understood by others, but not by ourselves. (F. P. A., "The Diary of Our Own Samuel Pepys," New York World, October 30, 1922.)

Were our difficulties as wholly apart from ourselves as a problem in arithmetic the facing of them would be a simple matter. But they are not. Often the most critical fact in a man's life is himself and frequently the diagnosis, "He doesn't know what he's up against," must be accompanied by the equally familiar one, "He's his own worst enemy."

He may be unskillful in handling himself. He may have unfortunate mannerisms. He may say the wrong thing in spite of his desire to say the right. He may have habits that are as hobbles to his efforts toward success. He may not appreciate his own worth. He may lack confidence in his ability. He may be making mistakes in behavior.