It is a moral and intellectual quality, and it must be realized by moral and intellectual means.

A man achieves individual distinction, not by the enterprise and vigor with which he accumulates money, but by the zeal and the skill with which he pursues an exclusive interest--an interest usually, but not necessarily, connected with his means of livelihood.

The purpose to which he is devoted--such, for instance, as that of painting or of running a railroad--is not exclusive in the sense of being unique.

But it becomes exclusive for the individual who adopts it, because of the single-minded and disinterested manner in which it is pursued.

A man makes the purpose exclusive for himself by the spirit and method in which the work is done; and just in proportion as the work is thoroughly well done, a man's individuality begins to take substance and form.