During the last thirty-five years，I have been conducting adult-education classes in New York City，and I have discovered that one of the major regrets of many adults is that they never went to college.They seem to think that not having a college education is a great handicap.I know that this isn’t necessarily true because I have known thousands of successful men who never went beyond high school.So I often tell these students the story of a man I knew who had never finished even grade school.
He was brought up in blighting poverty.When his father died，his father’s friends had to chip in to pay for the coffin in which he was buried.After his father’s death，his mother worked in an umbrella factory ten hours a day and then brought piecework home and worked until eleven o’clock at night.
The boy brought up in these circumstances went in for amateur dramatics put on by a club in his church.He got such a thrill out of acting that he decided to take up public speaking.This led him into politics.By the time he reached thirty，he was elected to the New York State legislature.But he was woefully unprepared for such a responsibility.In fact，he told me that frankly he didn’t know what it was all about.He studied the long，complicated bills that he was supposed to vote on-but，as far as he was concerned，those bills might as well have been written in the language of the Choctaw Indians.He was worried and bewildered when he was made a member of the committee on forests before he had ever set foot in a forest.He was worried and bewildered when he was made a member of the State Banking Commission before he had ever had a bank account.He himself told me that he was so discouraged that he would have resigned from the legislature if he hadn’t been ashamed to admit defeat to his mother.In despair，he decided to study sixteen hours a day and turn his lemon of ignorance into a lemonade of knowledge.By doing that，he transformed himself from a local politician into a national figure and made himself so outstanding that The New York Times called him “the best-loved citizen of New York”.
I am talking about Al Smith.
Ten years after Al Smith set out on his programme of political self-education，he was the greatest living authority on the government of New York State.He was elected Governor of New York for four terms-a record never attained by any other man.In1928，he was the Democratic candidate for President.Six great universities—including Columbia and Harvard—conferred honorary degrees upon this man who had never gone beyond grade school.
Al Smith himself told me that none of these things would ever have come to pass if he hadn’t worked hard sixteen hours a day to turn his minus into a plus.
Nietzsche’s formula for the superior man was “not only to bear up under necessity but to love it”.
The more I have studied the careers of men of achievement the more deeply I have been convinced that a surprisingly large number of them succeeded because they started out with handicaps that spurred them on to great endeavour and great rewards.As William James said：“Our infirmities help us unexpectedly.”
Yes，it is highly probable that Milton wrote better poetry because he was blind and that Beethoven composed better music because he was deaf.
Helen Keller’s brilliant career was inspired and made possible because of her blindness and deafness.
If Tchaikovsky had not been frustrated—and driven almost to suicide by his tragic marriage—if his own life had not been pathetic，he probably would never have been able to compose his immortal “Symphonic Pathetique”.
If Dostoevsky and Tolstoy had not led tortured lives，they would probably never have been able to write their immortal novels.
“If I had not been so great an invalid，”wrote the man who changed the scientific concept of life on earth—“if I had not been so great an invalid，I should not have done so much work as I have accomplished.”That was Charles Darwin’s confession that his infirmities had helped him unexpectedly.
The same day that Darwin was born in England another baby was born in a log cabin in the forests of Kentucky.He，too，washelped by his infirmities.His name was Lincoln—Abraham Lincoln.If he had been reared in an aristocratic family and had had a law degree from Harvard and a happy married life，he would probably never have found in the depths of his heart the haunting words that he immortalised at Gettysburg，nor the sacred poem that he spoke at his second inauguration—the most beautiful and noble phrases ever uttered by a ruler of men：“With malice toward none；with charity for all...”
Harry Emerson Fosdick says in his book，The Power to See it Through；“There is a Scandinavian saying which some of us might well take as a rallying cry for our lives：‘the north wind made the Vikings.’Wherever did we get the idea that secure and pleasant living，the absence of difficulty，and the comfort of ease，ever of themselves made people either good or happy？Upon the contrary，people who pity themselves go on pitying themselves even when they are laid softly on a cushion，but always in history character and happiness have come to people in all sorts of circumstances，good，bad，and indifferent，when they shouldered their personal responsibility.So，repeatedly the north wind has made the Vikings.”
Suppose we are so discouraged that we feel there is no hope of our ever being able to turn our lemons into lemonade-then here are two reasons why we ought to try，anyway—two reasons why we have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Reason one：We may succeed.
Reason two：Even if we don’t succeed，the mere attempt to turn our minus into a plus will cause us to look forward instead of backward；it will replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts；it will release creative energy and spur us to get so busy that we won’t have either the time or the inclination to mourn over what is past and for ever gone.