Passage 53. Choosing an Occupation

Dear sir,

I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me from sending an earlier reply to your letter.

In my opinion a man’s first duty is to find a way of supporting himself,

thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting him.

Moreover, the learning to do work of practical value in the world,

in an exact and careful manner, is of itself a very important education,

the effects of which make themselves felt in all other pursuits.

The habit of doing that which you do not care about when you would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable.

It would have saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me in youth.

Success in any scientific career requires an unusual equipment of capacity, industry, and energy.

If you possess that equipment, you will find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over,

to make an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself.

If you don't, you had better stick to commerce.

Nothing is less to be desired than the fate of a young man who,

as the Scotch proverb says, in “trying to make a spoon spoils a horn,”

and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in science,

when he might have been a useful and a valuable member of Society in other occupations.

I think that your father ought to see this letter.

Yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley.