The Nature of True Conviction
THAT only is worthy of the name of conviction which is translatable into words and, still farther, into deeds. He who is convinced is conquered, swayed, ruled, by his conviction. Mere opinion, mere sentiment, mere aspiration, is therefore not conviction; for while we hold sentiments and aspirations, convictions hold us. No one can be said to have (or to be held by) a conviction, until he has expressed that conviction, at least to himself, in words or in actions. "I hardly know where I stand," said a young man who had drifted from his religious moorings. He only realized that he stood nowhere, when he attempted to show that he stood somewhere. If you would know how vague are your beliefs, how few your convictions, how unstable your footing, how fruitless your life,—try to speak your convictions, to yourself at least, even if you do not speak them out to others. If you find then that you have really anything to say, you will know that you have something to do.—Selected.