his own behalf
helps to mold the universe. The stream in struggling onward turns the
mill-wheel; the coral insect, fashioning its tiny cell, joins continents
to one another; and the ambitious man, building a pedestal for himself,
leaves a monument to posterity. Alexander and Caesar fought for their
own ends, but in doing so they put a belt of civilization half round
the earth. Stephenson, to win a fortune, invented the steam-engine; and
Shakespeare wrote his plays in order to keep a comfortable home for Mrs.
Shakespeare and the little Shakespeares.

Contented, unambitious people are all very well in their way. They form
a neat, useful background for great portraits to be painted against, and
they make a respectable, if not particularly intelligent, audience for
the active spirits of the age to play before. I have not a word to say
against contented people so long as they keep quiet. But do not, for
goodness' sake, let them go strutting about, as they are so fond of
doing, crying out that they are the true models for the whole species.
Why, they are the deadheads, the drones in the great hive, the street
crowds that lounge about, gaping at those who are working.

And let them not imagine, either--as they are also fond of doing--that
they are very wise and philosophical and that it is a very artful
thing to be contented. It may be true that "a contented mind is happy
anywhere," but so is a Jerusalem pony, and the consequence is that both
are put anywhere and are treated anyhow. "Oh, you need not bother about
him," is what is said; "he is very contented as he is, and it would be a
pity to disturb him." And so your contented party is passed over and the
discontented man gets his place.

If you are foolish enough to be contented, don't show it, but grumble
with the rest; and if you can do with a little, ask for a great deal.
Because if you don't you won't get any. In this world it is necessary to
adopt the principle pursued by the plaintiff in an action for damages,
and to demand ten times more than you are ready to accept. If you can
feel satisfied with a hundred, begin by insisting on a thousand; if you
start by suggesting a hundred you will only get ten.

It was by not following this simple plan that poor Jean Jacques Rousseau
came to such grief. He fixed the summit of his earthly bliss at living
in an orchard with an amiable woman and a cow, and he never attained
even that. He did get as far as the orchard, but the wo