Choice of Books “Of making of many books there is no end.” So wrote the wise author of “Ecclesiastes” (a book in the Bible) over two thousand years ago. In his day, fifteen hundred years before the invention of printing, books had to be written out by hand on parchment—a slow and laborious process. Yet, in the opinion of that wise man, there were even then too many! What would he...

The fools of Yesterday are the Wise men of Today The greatness of a wise man is rarely fully appreciated by the people of his own time. He is like a high mountain, the top of which cannot be seen by dwellers at its foot, but only by those at a distance. As Jesus Christ said, when he visited his native town of Nazareth, and his fellow towns-men “were offended in...

Reading Maketh a full Man   Reading Maketh a full Man; Conference a ready man and writing an exact man Good books are storehouses of human knowledge and wisdom. Anyone who has the key can enter these store houses and help himself. What is the key ? Simply the ability to read. He who can read can store his mind with the great thoughts of the great thinkers of the world. The...

Thoughtless Alms giving The word “alms” comes from a Greek word meaning pity: and, apart form the idea of the religious duty of giving alms, all naturally kind hearted people find true joy in helping those whose poverty and distress move their pity. They learn the truth of the saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But alms should be given carefully and thoughtfully; for thoughtless alms giving may...

Space Travel In October 1957, the world learnt of a new achievement by the Russian Scientists. They launched into outer space the first man made earth satellite, Sputnik, opening up possibilities of further space probe. A second, much larger satellite containing a dog, the famous Laika, was launched in November. These spectacular achievements of the Russians spurred on the Americans to launch their Explorer in January, 1958. In 1961, it was...

Who is a Gentleman? A gentleman is a gentle man. In this connection, the word “gentle” means “noble”, as it does in the phrase “of gentle birth”. So, originally, a gentleman was one who, by birth and training, belonged to the upper classes. He was of noble blood. Then, because the social manners of the upper classes  were refined, as compared with those of the lower classes, anyone who knew how...

Public Speaking Public speaking is an art; and, like every other art, it has to be learnt, both in practice and theory. For a man to say that he will never deliver a speech until he has learnt to speak, is like saying that he will never go into the water until he has learnt to swim. One cannot learn to swim with-out going into the water, and one can never...

The Dignity of Labour Essay No. 01 By “labour” we generally mean manual work ; that is, work done with the hands, as distinguished from mental work, or work done with the head. In ancient times manual labour was looked down upon, and the manual worker was treated as an inferior being. Most ancient states were based upon slave-labour. Even the Greek city-states consisted of a small number of free citizens,...