Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast.

Today's reading was edited and adopted from Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success by James Allen,

published in 1913.

It is wise to know what comes first and what to do first.

To begin anything in the middle or at the end is to make a muddle of it.

The athlete who begins by breaking the tape would not receive the prize.

They must begin by facing the starter and towing the mark.

And even then a good start is important if they are to win.

The first things in a sound life, and therefore in a truly happy and successful life, are

right principles.

Without right principles to begin with, there will be wrong practices to follow

with, and a bungled and wretched life to end with. The first principles in life are principles

of conduct. To name them is easy, but few people have learned them.

In this short talk I will deal with only five of these principles.

These five are among the simplest of the root principles of life.

They are those that come nearest to the everyday life of all,

for they touch the artisan, the business person,

the homemaker, the citizen, at every point.

Not one of them can be dispensed with, but at severe cost, but the individual who

perfects their application will rise superior to many of the

troubles and failures of life.

The first of these principles is duty, a much-hackneyed word I know, but it contains a rare

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