The Secret of Success

Along that wire flows the current of Will Power, which the individual "taps" and draws down into his mind, and by which he is able to move, act, and manifest power. But the power is always in the Wire; his "development" consists of the ability to connect with that Wire and thus "tap into" its energy. If you keep this idea in mind, you will be able to apply this truth more easily in your everyday life.

A great promoter of the steel-pen metal writing nibs which were a major industry in the 1800s and electroplating using electricity to coat metal with a layer of gold or silver industries likely referring to Josiah Mason (1795–1881), an English industrialist possessed this quality to a marked degree. It has been said of him: "He had, to begin with, a strong, powerful, almost irresistible Will; and whoever and whatever he opposed, he surely conquered in the end."

Buxton Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786–1845), a British politician and social reformer said: "The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference between men—between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant—is Energy, Invincible Determination, a purpose once fixed, and then Victory or Death. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world; and no talents, no circumstances, and no opportunities will make a two-legged creature a man without it."

In this last quotation and the one preceding it, the ideas of Persistence and Determination are identified closely with the Will. They are indeed closely linked. The idea is that the Will should be held close, fast, and steadily against the task to be accomplished, just as a steel c... The text cuts off mid-word; likely "cutter," "chisel," or "chain."