“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.”

This is so true. I wish I could remind myself of this everyday. This is an important idea.

I'm with you Ben

Ah, the Hannibal mindset: I will either find a way, or I will make one. Sadly, this mentality only really exists today in figuring out the various ways of taking the property of one's neighbor. The old adage to "get a job" mainly refers to the work it takes to go down to the government building and file for welfare. We make our own reality, but there are forces of nature that exist regardless of what mental contraptions we sometimes assume. It seems that society is sometimes hell-bent on denying gravity, but gravity maintains its consistency and keeps on working regardless of public sentiment (I use this as a metaphor, obviously). The founders rejected tyranny and simply declared themselves free, and they did so upon the foundation of the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" wherein they declared their "inalienable rights" from their Creator. I am lucky to have grown up in a home where my father lived his life in accordance to this credo; hopefully a little of it rubbed off, as I agree with Ben that it is important to constantly remind ourselves that we make our own reality as to how we perceive our lives.

Greatest quote yet. I think this is the opposite of the conspiritorial view of history mindset so often seen expressed by commentators on this site. The mindset of those who believe that The Fed and The World is controlled by a few and we are but puppets on a string. No not at all. There are rules and laws to play by but push the envelope, live your life, use your circumstances as a spring board not as a ball and chain.

Archer I posted a rejoinder to your comment at the Edwin Way Teale quote of Friday 3/20/2009. You should read it.

Make it your way and thought has gone.

Agree with Ben and Logan.

If we were to believe all the gloom and doom broadcast day and night by the media, few would bother to get up in the morning. Thankfully, this country still thrives on the entrepreneurship of its independent citizens.

I think that you should cut the quotes down to be smaller

Right on!

E Archer, great comment. Our country survives in spite of all the government "Help". Watch "Shark Tank" and see entrepreneurship in action.

Diligence guided by integrity, skills well honed, makes for a happy camper !! The apple does not fall far from the Tree.
Well said Logan and Archer. Independence is happiness !!