Thus men are to rise upon their performances and not upon their discontent.

And this is the secret and golden meaning of the command to be _content_ in whatever sphere we are placed.

It is not to be the content of indifference, of indolence, of unambitious stupidity, but the content of industrious fidelity.

When men are building the foundations of vast structures they must needs labor far below the surface, and in disagreeable conditions.

But every course of stone which they lay raises them higher; and at length, when they reach the surface, they have laid such solid work under them that they need not fear now to carry up their walls, through towering stories, till they overlook the whole neighborhood.