What does this quote mean?

“Activity does not consist in velocity of change but in constancy of purpose.”

Being busy or changing quickly is not the same as purposeful action; continuity of aim gives activity its direction.

Source note: The Life of Reason; the line appears in Santayana’s analysis of ideas, activity, and sustained direction.

“If you would make anything a habit, do it.”

Habit formation is reduced to repeated action: the behavior itself is what trains the pattern.

Source note: Discourses; Epictetus gives the instruction while explaining how repeated acts strengthen habits.

“This was, in truth the secret of his success”

Smiles uses Bianconi’s minute-conscious working habits to illustrate how disciplined use of time contributed to practical business success.

Source note: Men of Invention and Industry, Chapter IX, “Charles Bianconi: A Lesson of Self-Help in Ireland”; Project Gutenberg #725. This excerpt is Smiles’s narrative conclusion immediately after an anecdote about saving time.

“Dispersion is weakness; concentration is power.”

The contrast argues that scattered attention weakens useful effort while concentrated attention increases the force available for a chosen task.

Source note: The Mastery of Destiny, opening of “The Power of Purpose”; Wikisource 1909 text. The sentence is Allen’s own framing, not an attributed example.

“Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.”

Leisure is easier to protect when working time is used deliberately, linking time management with freedom rather than treating organization as an end in itself.

Source note: Poor Richard’s Almanack; the maxim connects disciplined use of working time with the ability to gain leisure.

“Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do to-day.”

The maxim turns prompt action into a habit: work that can reasonably be completed now should not be needlessly transferred to an uncertain tomorrow.

Source note: The Way to Wealth; a Poor Richard maxim on delay and useful employment of time.