and again. The institutional treatment is good for
the beginning of the cure, but if an individual with "nerves" is going
to get well and stay well he must change his lifelong habits.

And I want to say again, that any person, man or woman, in the midst of
depressing conditions can triumph over them if he will eat as he should
and live as he should. There is something about the human soul, if it is
pure and fine, and if proper attention is given to right living, that
will enable a person to meet great sorrow and triumph over it. In fact,
no amount of sorrow can defeat a person who keeps his heart and body
right.

And I would have you all realize that there is something far more to us
than mere bones and veins and nerves. I know the terrible tendency of
the one with "nerves" to get angry. But lay fast hold of yourself. Fight
anger as you would poison, because in reality it is poison to your
nerves. Anger will hurt you; it will hurt anybody. But no matter how
hard you find it at first, get control of your temper. If you succeed in
doing this in a year you will have won one of the greatest victories man
can win in this world. I would rather meet a so-called plain man who has
perfect control over his physical and mental faculties, and sit and talk
quietly with him, than to meet the Prime Minister of England or the
President of the United States if either lacked this control. For I say
to you that no matter what others may say, the true measure of success
does not rest in the position you occupy but in your having complete
control of yourself.

If you are to gain this control it means that each day you are
confronted by a mighty big task, but if finally successful, you will
have accomplished the greatest thing a man can do in this life. Now,
here is something for you to take hold of, you who all these years have
believed that your life ambition has been thwarted. But your ambition,
let me tell you, has not been thwarted. Perhaps you have not done just
what you wanted to do. But it's quite possible that you had no business
trying to do that special thing anyway. Most of us, I find, can be
greatly mistaken about what we think we want to do. At any rate, we can
never be happy unless we gain entire control of ourselves.

This is something the person afflicted with "nerves" most certainly can
do, and he can use this terrible "thing" as I myself and thousands of
others have used it as a ladder to climb to the sunlit peaks where