每个人一生中都该有个志向，否则他的精力便会浪费掉。每个青年人都力求成为一个有成就的人物。一个青年人只期望富有是不明智的，或只专心于求得权力与名望也是不对的。一个青年人希望做个有成就者，结果常常会实现。狄斯拉里(Disraeli)的故事是个例证。狄斯拉里开始过公众生活时渴望能成为一个学者及演说家。他在文学方面的成就比演说方面更为成功。起初他作为一个演说家时是完全失败的。不过，他认为有把握克服障碍，遂以不屈不挠的精神致力于这个目标的实现。他的一些朋友认为他这个念头是蠢的，甚至是古怪的，但他坚持目标不舍，最后终于成功，成为英国曾经产生的知识最丰富的学者与最雄辩的演说家之一。这个故事并不是用来说明：只是大学者或演说家，或二者兼而有之者才是有成就的人物。除了做学者或演说家之外，还有许多同样高尚与可敬的事业。它只是用来说明一个青年人须志向高远，因为“宁可志高而达不到目标，也不要志低而达到”。
Everyone should possess an ambition in his lifetime, or his energy will be wasted. Every young man tries to be a person with great achievements. A young man who only pursues wealth or focuses on power and reputation is not wise. It will be realistic for a young man to become an achiever. Disraeli is a good example. Disraeli hoped to become a scholar and elocutionist at the beginning of his public life. He was more successful in the field of literature than speech. He was a complete failure as an elocutionist initially. However, he was determined to overcome obstacles, therefore he was devoted to realizing the purpose with his perseverance. Some of his friends thought he was foolish or even whimsical, but he persisted in his purpose and succeed finally. He became one of the most knowledgeable and eloquent in Britain. This story is not used for illustrating that only being a scholar or speechmaker, or being both of them can be a person with achievements. Besides scholar and elocutionist, there are other noble and worshipful careers. The story is just explaining that a young man should have lofty ambitions because “we prefer to be not able to reach our aims for they are high ambition rather than have low ambition to obtain them”.
