Many defects are tolerated in public men, and many of them even seem derisory when moral clarity is found in them. Among his peers, this is so rare that, when it manifests itself, it seems to overshadow them all and overshadow his other qualities. In an arena dominated by falsehood and insidiousness, it is almost a miracle when we see someone who has not been contaminated.
Despite the Apparent Increase in Complexity
Modernity, despite the apparent increase in complexity that it has given to all sorts of ideologies, has simplified them to such an extent that today we can easily summarize the ideological debate into good and bad intentions. To say that it cannot be reduced to such a Manichaeism is to deny the ostensible axiological war that supports it and manifests itself in every word uttered and every line written. Everything else is secondary or irrelevant.
When a Draft Is Lost…
When a draft is lost, but what was sketched persists in the memory, something interesting happens. We realize that it is possible to restore the draft by going back through the same stages of reasoning that led to it; but it is not possible to restore it word for word, exactly as it was. It can be seen, then, that something is lost in the process. It follows that we can say the same thing day after day, renewing it by the way we say it; however, the uniqueness of the moment in which it was said remains ingrained in it and, finally, the lost draft is really the moment that is gone…
The Beginner Praises Easily
The beginner praises easily and hardly criticizes. This is because praise is more in line with his admiration of something that, if he understands it, he feels is still unattainable for him; criticism, on the other hand, requires knowledge and security that he doesn’t have. With the experienced, the opposite is true: criticism is natural, almost automatic, and praise requires the rare virtue of recognizing in the other person, despite his own knowledge, an ability that he may not have. The beginner therefore grows by being able to criticize, while the experienced does so by learning to praise: both, in short, by going against what is easiest for them.