Life is always more interesting when one takes risks and lives in the knowledge that to act is to risk. But sometimes it happens that there is so much bad luck that the successive setbacks accumulate in an unbearably disappointing way, and soon one loses that minimum of hope without which one cannot take a risk. Such discouragement is the death of the spirit, and it is undoubtedly much more profitable to spend one’s life as a deluded madman than to succumb to it; for the madman at least acts, and from his action something good can be drawn.
Category: Notes
In Fact, We Have to Be Very Careful…
In fact, we have to be very careful with a general history of anything, because it will necessarily hide more than it reveals. Of course, we cannot conclude from this that it is useless, but we must be aware that for each of the conclusions it may draw, there will be contradictory examples in the specific history of the events covered. So, while the tremendous effort involved in producing a general history cannot be overlooked, it is clear that the best history is always micro-history, and it is on this that any serious study should focus.
There Are Very Few Biographies…
There are very few biographies in which there is not at least one moment in which an unforeseen external event positively changes the biographee’s situation. We always find it, although it is true that sometimes the change does not last. However, luck is there, allowing the change to crystallize and transform—which does not always happen. But it is curious to note that sometimes this event happens at the end of life, and we would assume that it is accompanied by the feeling that it has come too late. We never find this feeling and, privileged to be able to look at the whole biography, we conclude that it would be one hundred percent unreasonable.
It Is Difficult to Imagine a Prolonged State…
It is difficult to imagine a prolonged state in which the personality is not disturbed by conflicting elements. Such disturbances, whether external or internal, cannot be totally overcome. What they can is to be tolerated, analyzed and absorbed. And the personality is made by what remains after confronting them. If we think about it for a moment, it can sometimes be indignant to realize that the shock is often gratuitous and damaging. But then we realize that personality is an effort, and we see the merit in persisting in its depuration.