Wild Oats Sowings: Autobiography of an Adventurer (1836~1856)

The aim in life will correspond with the character and tastes of the individual. Many will desire to become rich, yet very few, comparatively speaking, will succeed; and not a few of those who reach the goal of their desires, will do so to the ruin of both soul and body; and "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Many, again, will aspire to celebrity, fame; but none of this class may hope to reach the pinnacle to which their ambition spurs them. They...