It is well that the hand should
believe that all is expected, foreseen; but well, too, that we
should have in us a secret idea, inviolable, incorruptible, that
will always remember that whatever is great most often must be
unforeseen. It is the unforeseen, the unknown, that fulfil what we
never should dare to attempt; but they will not come to our aid if
they find not, deep down in our heart, an altar inscribed to their
worship. Men of the mightiest will--men like Napoleon--were careful,
in their most extraordinary deeds, to leave open a good share to
fate. Those within whom there lives not a generous hope will keep
fate closely confined, as they would a sickly child; but others
invite her into the limitless plains man has not yet the strength to
explore, and their eyes follow her every movement.
23. These feverish hours of history resemble a storm that we see on
the ocean; we come from far inland; we rush to the beach, in keen
expectation; we eye the enormous waves with curious eagerness, with
almost childish intensity. And there comes one along that is three
times as high and as fierce as the rest. It rushes towards us like
some monster with diaphanous muscles. It uncoils itself in mad haste
from the distant horizon, as though it were bearer of some urgent,
complete revelation.
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