“‘If I got places, sir, it was because I made myself fit for ’em. If you want to slip into a round hole, you must make a ball of yourself—that’s where it is. . . .
    ‘The world isn’t made of pen, ink, and paper, and if you’re to get on in the world, young man, you must know what the world’s made of.’”

—George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, 1860. The advice is from Mr. Deane.