What does this quote mean?

“The only thing that stands in our power to achieve, is to make the most advantageous use possible of the personal qualities we possess”

Within his restrictive view of personality, Schopenhauer still assigns agency to choosing pursuits that use and develop one’s actual capacities rather than leaving them idle or mismatched.

Source note: The Wisdom of Life, T. Bailey Saunders translation; Project Gutenberg #10741. The following clause recommends pursuits suited to the development of one’s capacities.

“education ought to do more for a boy”

Washington rejects an overly narrow definition of schooling and asks whether education can improve the practical conditions and responsibilities of life.

Source note: Working With the Hands, Chapter I; Project Gutenberg #64504. This short excerpt precedes Washington’s discussion of poverty, family responsibility and practical education.

“The purpose of life is unquestionably unfoldment, growth, advancement”

Trine states his view of purpose directly: life should continue to develop rather than settle into mental or moral stagnation.

Source note: The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit; Project Gutenberg #28163. The surrounding text describes evolution from “lower” to “higher” in spiritual terms; this is Trine’s philosophical-religious position, not a scientific law of human development.

“the freedom for every man to do what he can do best, joined to the knowledge of what productions of labour we really wanted. I must admit that this knowledge we reached slowly and painfully.”

Old Hammond connects useful work with discovering strengths and social needs, while explicitly describing that knowledge as something learned gradually through difficulty.

Source note: News from Nowhere, Old Hammond speaking; Project Gutenberg #3261. The passage is part of Morris’s fictional utopian social argument.

“All that a man can do is to form such resolves as from time to time accord with the circumstances in which he is placed, in the hope of thus managing to advance a step nearer towards the final goal.”

Instead of treating a life plan as fixed in every detail, Schopenhauer describes progress as a series of resolutions adjusted to changing circumstances while preserving a larger direction.

Source note: Counsels and Maxims, T. Bailey Saunders translation; Project Gutenberg #10715. The following geometric analogy describes life as the resultant of circumstances and aims.

“Sweet are the uses of adversity.”

Adversity is presented as capable of yielding insight or value even when the experience itself is unwelcome.

Source note: As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 1; Duke Senior reflects on what adversity can reveal while living in exile.