Know Yourself

Today, more than at any time past, it matters to you to know yourself and those around you. Here is a test of your personality, and each category is a picture of a group of people of whom you are one. A single category may not match your temperament exactly, but if you are sure of yourself, answer the questions and they will help you.

Mark the statements with the word false or true, then count them up: if the number reaches five or more, you belong to that category. But if, for example, you score five questions from category A and five from B, you fall under category AB; and if you do not have five from any group, you belong to category D.

Category A

1: Manual work gives me pleasure.

2: Fine workmanship delights me, and I like to find out how it is done.

3: I like to work in the garden.

4: I long for games that tire my body without straining my mind.

5: When certain matters grow complicated, I busy myself with something else so as to forget them.

6: I do some of the small repairs about the house myself.

7: I prefer walking for physical exercise.

8: I am practical, and routine does not weary me.

Category B

1: The company of people pleases me more than anything in life.

2: I feel sympathy and tenderness toward people of all classes and ages.

3: I set aside my own affairs to help others.

4: I love informal social life, where I can mix with people.

5: I prefer to go out and do things that profit me nothing rather than stay alone.

6: My friends bring me their problems, and I listen to them with complete attention.

7: I give often, and with all my heart, to those in need of giving.

8: I am tender of feeling and loving, and I always show my sympathy and my emotion.

Category C

1: Solitude is sweet to me, for then I can read and think.

2: I plunge with perfect ease into the work at hand, and give myself to it heedless of everything around me.

3: There is in me a hunger for knowledge, and I let no hour go to waste in which I might gain some information.

4: The editor's word is the first thing I read in the newspaper.

5: By nature I am drawn to persons who have had more experience than I.

6: My mind longs for creation and invention.

7: I like to inquire, and to examine intellectual questions.

8: My surroundings are a secondary thing to me, so long as I am able to impose my personality on those around me.

Category A: Your pride in work gives you satisfaction, and an excuse for your clinging to the earth.

You need adventure in friendship, and mental exercise. You learn quickly, and it is easier for you to gather money than to gather friends, before whom you stand embarrassed; do not let this hesitancy drown you, and strive to be rid of it. I advise you to work with all the powers nature has endowed you with — but lift your eyes to study the stars... with someone else!

Category AB: You hasten to help others, but look out for yourself as well. You know that love and work make this world go, and you possess both; but work at discovering what you do not know of yourself, and if you do not lift your head from time to time, you will lean toward materialism. You love people more than you understand them, and this sometimes lands you in trouble.

Category AC: Your motto is that nothing is so much a failure as falling, and nothing furthers advancement but success; and because you are intelligent, I am certain of your success, for there is in you a vision for planning things and carrying them out. But go deeper: take note of the criticisms directed at you, without conceit; make a show of interest, and you will draw those around you to your calm and your energy. You love the struggle for life — let that love flood over your fellow men as well.

Category B: Beating about the bush does you no good; pierce to the heart of the matter. You are generous and tender-hearted; you cannot bear to see hurt — so stop overdoing this, and fill the void with work that occupies your hands and your mind. Your love of humanity is sweet, its circle your brothers and your kin; but make some room in your head for thinking.

Category BC: You are intelligent and elegant; you know how to raise others up, and sometimes you bring them down, wounding them to the quick. Do not let other people's affairs distract you from your own. You counsel others with wisdom and shrewdness, and you attract them without their being able to attract you. You feel boredom and long to be rid of it, and that comes only through mental and manual work.

Category C: Sober and proud — that is you; your heart is in your head. But you will quickly lose your aptitude for life and gaiety if you neglect yourself! Absent-mindedness overtakes you, since you always have things occupying you; but you need to think about things that do not concern your own self, and direct contact with society will do you good. Try to find friends who will help you forget yourself. You do not understand the practical-minded, because they do not value idealism; but even with those you dislike, try to get along.

Category D: You are the salt of the earth, but you need a little spice... You are neutral, easy to get on with, neither sullen nor affected; but if you want a better life, plunge into work and experience, and do not shut yourself up inside a shell, thinking that others must accept you as you are. Speak, and let them hear what you have to say, for they love your talk as they admire your calm. Do not blame your surroundings for your boredom — how quickly mind and body grow poor in idleness! Love, work, and struggle are the aim of life — with friends!