The truest man
willnever be he who desires to be other than man. How many there are
that thus waste their lives, scouring the heavens for sight of the
comet that never will come; but disdaining to look at the stars,
because these can be seen by all, and, moreover, are countless in
number! This craving for the extraordinary is often the special
weakness of ordinary men, who fail to perceive that the more normal,
and ordinary, and uniform events may appear to us, the more are we
able to appreciate the profound happiness that this uniformity
enfolds, and the nearer are we drawn to the truth and tranquillity
of the great force by which we have being. What can be less abnormal
than the ocean, which covers two-thirds of the globe; and yet, what
is there more vast? There is not a thought or a feeling, not an act
of beauty or nobility, whereof man is capable, but can find complete
expression in the simplest, most ordinary life; and all that cannot
be expressed therein must of necessity belong to the falsehoods of
vanity, ignorance, or sloth.
89. Does this mean that the wise man should expect no more from life
than other men; that he should love mediocrity and limit his
desires; content himself with little and restrict the horizon of his
happiness, because of the fear lest happiness escape him? By no
means; for the wisdom is halting and sickly that can too freely
renounce a legitimate human hope.
Pages:
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196