The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder--a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.

The image of a rudderless ship frames purposelessness as drift: without a chosen end, a person is carried by circumstance and becomes socially and morally indistinct (“a waif, a nothing”). The second sentence turns from diagnosis to exhortation, aligning vocation with strenuous effort—mind and body—under a providential register (“as God has given you”). Attributed to Carlyle, the sentiment fits his broader Victorian emphasis on work, duty, and heroic self-direction: meaning is not found in idle speculation but forged through committed labor toward a definite aim. The quote thus functions as a compact moral psychology of agency: purpose supplies direction; disciplined exertion supplies momentum.