Read the passage about indecision, firm resolution, and perseverance. Then answer the question. What does the writer finally advise us to be in order to overcome obstacles and succeed?

Introduction / Context:
The passage contrasts indecisive people with those who are capable of wise consultation, firm resolution, and flexible perseverance. Toward the end, the author gives direct advice: take your course wisely, but firmly, and then hold to it with heroic resolution. The question asks what the writer advises us to be. We must capture the combination of wisdom, firmness, and resolution, which are repeated and emphasised in the final lines.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The passage begins by criticising people who hesitate and fluctuate and do neither of the things they consider.
• The author then praises the man who consults wisely, resolves firmly, and executes his purpose with perseverance.
• The final advice is to take your course wisely but firmly and to hold to it with heroic resolution.
• The passage suggests that such a person can overcome even large obstacles, symbolised by the Alps and Pyrenees.
• The virtues highlighted are wisdom, firmness, perseverance, and resolution.

Concept / Approach:
We must identify the combination of qualities the writer encourages. Wisdom is needed to choose a course; firmness is needed to avoid changing plans under every influence; resolution is needed to continue in the face of difficulty. The correct option will include these elements. Options that include weakness, mere happiness, or constant hesitation contradict the author’s message.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Focus on the final sentence: Take your course wisely, but firmly; and having taken it, hold upon it with heroic resolution. Step 2: Option A summarises this as being wise, firm, and resolute. This clearly matches the message. Step 3: Option B strangely combines weakness with firmness and resolution, which is inconsistent with heroic resolution. Step 4: Option C adds happiness but ignores wisdom and planning, while the passage stresses wise consultation. Step 5: Option D leaves out wisdom, which plays a key role in choosing a course. Step 6: Option E encourages constant hesitation, which is the very attitude the passage condemns.

Verification / Alternative check:
We can verify by imagining how the author would describe an ideal student or leader: someone who thinks carefully, chooses a path, and then sticks to it with courage. That person must be wise, firm, and resolute. None of the other options integrate all three qualities; instead they mix in qualities like weakness or hesitation that the passage treats as harmful.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B is wrong because weakness cannot coexist with the heroic resolution the author praises. Option C is wrong because happiness without wisdom or planning is not what the passage recommends. Option D is wrong because leaving out wisdom ignores the advice to consult and choose wisely. Option E is wrong because constant hesitation is criticised in the very first sentence of the passage.

Common Pitfalls:
Sometimes students focus on single attractive words like happy or flexible, but lose sight of the exact advice given. The safest approach is to look at the closing sentences where authors often state their main recommendation most clearly. Doing so here leads directly to the combination of wisdom, firmness, and resolution.

Final Answer:
The writer advises us to be wise, firm, and resolute in our chosen course.