{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_Counsels_and_Maxims_Chapter_IV/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_Counsels_and_Maxims_Chapter_IV","id":"wikisource_Counsels_and_Maxims_Chapter_IV","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Counsels_and_Maxims/Chapter_IV","summary":null,"tags":["Pages_with_translator","Subpages"],"text":"WORLDLY FORTUNE.\n\nSECTION 47.\n\nHowever varied the forms that human destiny may take, the same\nelements are always present; and so life is everywhere much of a\npiece, whether it passed in the cottage or in the palace, in the\nbarrack or in the cloister. Alter the circumstance as much as you\nplease! point to strange adventures, successes, failures! life is like\na sweet-shop, where there is a great variety of things, odd in shape\nand diverse in color\u2014one and all made from the same paste. And when\nmen speak of some one's success, the lot of the man who has failed is\nnot so very different as it seems. The inequalities in the world are\nlike the combinations in a kaleidoscope; at every turn a fresh picture\nstrikes the eye; and yet, in reality, you see only the same bits of\nglass as you saw before.\n\nSECTION 48.\n\nAn ancient writer says, very truly, that there are three\ngreat powers in the world; Sagacity, Strength, and Luck,\u2014[Greek:\nsunetos, kratos, tuchu.] I think the last is the most efficacious.\n\nA man's life is like the voyage of a ship, where luck\u2014secunda aut adversa fortuna\u2014acts the part of the wind, and speeds the vessel on its way or drives it far out of its course. All that the man can do for himself is of little avail; like the rudder, which, if worked hard\nand continuously, may help in the navigation of the ship; and yet all\nmay be lost again by a sudden squall. But if the wind is only in the\nright quarter, the ship will sail on so as not to need any steering.\nThe power of luck is nowhere better expressed than in a certain\nSpanish proverb: Da Ventura a tu hijo, y echa lo en el mar\u2014give\nyour son luck and throw him into the sea.\n\nStill, chance, it may be said, is a malignant power, and as little\nas possible should be left to its agency. And yet where is there any\ngiver who, in dispensing gifts, tells us quite clearly that we have no\nright to them, and that we owe them not to any merit on our part,\nbut wholly to the goodness and grace of the giver\u2014at the same time\nallowing us to cherish the joyful hope of receiving, in all humility,\nfurther undeserved gifts from the same hands\u2014where is there any giver\nlike that, unless it be Chance? who understands the kingly art of\nshowing the recipient that all merit is powerless and unavailing\nagainst the royal grace and favor.\n\nOn looking back over the course of his life,\u2014that labyrinthine way of error,\u2014a man must see many points where luck failed him and misfortune came; and then it is easy to carry self-reproach to an\nunjust excess. For the course of a man's life is in no wise entirely\nof his own making; it is the product of two factors\u2014the series of\nthings that happened, and his own resolves in regard to them, and\nthese two are constantly interacting upon and modifying each other.\nAnd besides these, another influence is at work in the very limited\nextent of a man's horizon, whether it is that he cannot see very far\nahead in respect of the plans he will adopt, or that he is still less\nable to predict the course of future events: his knowledge is strictly\nconfined to present plans and present events. Hence, as long as a\nman's goal is far off, he cannot steer straight for it; he must be\ncontent to make a course that is approximately right; and in following\nthe direction in which he thinks he ought to go, he will often have\noccasion to tack.\n\nAll that a man can do is to form such resolves as from time to time\naccord with the circumstances in which he is placed, in the hope of\nthus managing to advance a step nearer towards the final goal. It is\nusually the case that the position in which we stand, and the object\nat which we aim, resemble two tendencies working with dissimilar\nstrength in different directions; and the course of our life is\nrepresented by their diagonal, or resultant force.\n\nTerence makes the remark that life is like a game at dice, where if\nthe number that turns up is not precisely the one you want, you can\nstill contrive to use it equally:\u2014in vita est hominum quasi cum ludas tesseris; si illud quod maxime opus est jactu non cadit, illud quod cecidit forte, id arte ut corrigas. Or, to put the matter more shortly, life is a game of cards, when the cards are shuffled and\ndealt by fate. But for my present purpose, the most suitable simile\nwould be that of a game of chess, where the plan we determined to\nfollow is conditioned by the play of our rival,\u2014in life, by the\ncaprice of fate. We are compelled to modify our tactics, often to such\nan extent that, as we carry them out, hardly a single feature of the\noriginal plan can be recognized.\n\nBut above and beyond all this, there is another influence that makes\nitself felt in our lives. It is a trite saying\u2014only too frequently\ntrue\u2014that we are often more foolish than we think. On the other hand,\nwe are often wiser than we fancy ourselves to be. This, however, is a\ndiscovery which only those can make, of whom it is really true; and it\ntakes them a long time to make it. Our brains are not the wisest\npart of us. In the great moments of life, when a man decides upon\nan important step, his action is directed not so much by any clear\nknowledge of the right thing to do, as by an inner impulse\u2014you may\nalmost call it an instinct\u2014proceeding from the deepest foundations of\nhis being. If, later on, he attempts to criticise his action by the\nlight of hard and fast ideas of what is right in the abstract\u2014those\nunprofitable ideas which are learnt by rote, or, it may be, borrowed\nfrom other people; if he begins to apply general rules, the principles\nwhich have guided others, to his own case, without sufficiently\nweighing the maxim that one man's meat is another's poison, then he\nwill run great risk of doing himself an injustice. The result will\nshow where the right course lay. It is only when a man has reached\nthe happy age of wisdom that he is capable of just judgment in regard\neither to his own actions or to those of others.\n\nIt may be that this impulse or instinct is the unconscious effect of a\nkind of prophetic dream which is forgotten when we awake\u2014lending\nour life a uniformity of tone, a dramatic unity, such as could never\nresult from the unstable moments of consciousness, when we are so\neasily led into error, so liable to strike a false note. It is in\nvirtue of some such prophetic dream that a man feels himself called to\ngreat achievements in a special sphere, and works in that direction\nfrom his youth up out of an inner and secret feeling that that is his\ntrue path, just as by a similar instinct the bee is led to build up\nits cells in the comb. This is the impulse which Balthazar Gracian\ncalls la gran sinderesis\u2014the great power of moral discernment:\nit is something that a man instinctively feels to be his salvation\nwithout which he were lost.\n\nTo act in accordance with abstract principles is a difficult matter,\nand a great deal of practice will be required before you can be even\noccasionally successful; it of tens happens that the principles do not\nfit in with your particular case. But every man has certain innate\nconcrete principles\u2014a part, as it were, of the very blood that\nflows in his veins, the sum or result, in fact, of all his thoughts,\nfeelings and volitions. Usually he has no knowledge of them in any\nabstract form; it is only when he looks back upon the course his life\nhas taken, that he becomes aware of having been always led on by\nthem\u2014as though they formed an invisible clue which he had followed\nunawares.\n\nSECTION 49.\n\nThat Time works great changes, and that all things are\nin their nature fleeting\u2014these are truths that should never be\nforgotten. Hence, in whatever case you may be, it is well to picture\nto yourself the opposite: in prosperity, to be mindful of misfortune;\nin friendship, of enmity; in good weather, of days when the sky is\novercast; in love, of hatred; in moments of trust, to imagine the\nbetrayal that will make you regret your confidence; and so, too, when\nyou are in evil plight, to have a lively sense of happier times\u2014what\na lasting source of true worldly wisdom were there! We should then\nalways reflect, and not be so very easily deceived; because, in\ngeneral, we should anticipate the very changes that the years will\nbring.\n\nPerhaps in no form of knowledge is personal experience so\nindispensable as in learning to see that all things are unstable and\ntransitory in this world. There is nothing that, in its own place and\nfor the time it lasts, is not a product of necessity, and therefore\ncapable of being fully justified; and it is this fact that makes\ncircumstances of every year, every month, even of every day, seem as\nthough they might maintain their right to last to all eternity. But we\nknow that this can never be the case, and that in a world where all is\nfleeting, change alone endures. He is a prudent man who is not only\nundeceived by apparent stability, but is able to forecast the lines\nupon which movement will take place.\n\nBut people generally think that present circumstances will last, and\nthat matters will go on in the future as they have clone in the past.\nTheir mistakes arises from the fact that they do not understand the\ncause of the things they see\u2014causes which, unlike the effects they\nproduce, contain in themselves the germ of future change. The\neffects are all that people know, and they hold fast to them on the\nsupposition that those unknown causes, which were sufficient to bring\nthem about, will also be able to maintain them as they are. This is a\nvery common error; and the fact that it is common is not without its\nadvantage, for it means that people always err in unison; and hence\nthe calamity which results from the error affects all alike, and is\ntherefore easy to bear; whereas, if a philosopher makes a mistake, he\nis alone in his error, and so at a double disadvantage.\n\nBut in saying that we should anticipate the effects of time, I mean\nthat we should mentally forecast what they are likely to be; I do\nnot mean that we should practically forestall them, by demanding the\nimmediate performance of promises which time alone can fulfill. The\nman who makes his demand will find out that there is no worse or more\nexacting usurer than Time; and that, if you compel Time to give money\nin advance, you will have to pay a rate of interest more ruinous than\nany Jew would require. It is possible, for instance, to make a tree\nburst forth into leaf, blossom, or even bear fruit within a few days,\nby the application of unslaked lime and artificial heat; but after\nthat the tree will wither away. So a young man may abuse his\nstrength\u2014it may be only for a few weeks\u2014by trying to do at nineteen\nwhat he could easily manage at thirty, and Time may give him the loan\nfor which he asks; but the interest he will have to pay comes out of\nthe strength of his later years; nay, it is part of his very life\nitself.\n\nThere are some kinds of illness in which entire restoration to health\nis possible only by letting the complaint run its natural course;\nafter which it disappears without leaving any trace of its existence.\nBut if the sufferer is very impatient, and, while he is still\naffected, insists that he is completely well, in this case, too,\nTime will grant the loan, and the complaint may be shaken off; but\nlife-long weakness and chronic mischief will be the interest paid upon\nit.\n\nAgain, in time of war or general disturbance, a man may require ready\nmoney at once, and have to sell out his investments in land or consols\nfor a third or even a still smaller fraction of the sum he would have\nreceived from them, if he could have waited for the market to right\nitself, which would have happened in due course; but he compels Time\nto grant him a loan, and his loss is the interest he has to pay. Or\nperhaps he wants to go on a long journey and requires the money: in\none or two years he could lay by a sufficient sum out of his income,\nbut he cannot afford to wait; and so he either borrows it or deducts\nit from his capital; in other words, he gets Time to lend him the\nmoney in advance. The interest he pays is a disordered state of his\naccounts, and permanent and increasing deficits, which he can never\nmake good.\n\nSuch is Time's usury; and all who cannot wait are its victims. There\nis no more thriftless proceeding than to try and mend the measured\npace of Time. Be careful, then, not to become its debtor.\n\nSECTION 50.\n\nIn the daily affairs of life, you will have very many\nopportunities of recognizing a characteristic difference between\nordinary people of prudence and discretion. In estimating the\npossibility of danger in connection with any undertaking, an ordinary\nman will confine his inquiries to the kind of risk that has already\nattended such undertakings in the past; whereas a prudent person will\nlook ahead, and consider everything that might possibly happen in the future, having regard to a certain Spanish maxim: lo que no acaece en un ano, acaece en un rato\u2014a thing may not happen in a year, and yet may happen within two minutes.\n\nThe difference in question is, of course, quite natural; for it\nrequires some amount of discernment to calculate possibilities; but\na man need only have his senses about him to see what has already\nhappened.\n\nDo not omit to sacrifice to evil spirits. What I mean is, that a man\nshould not hesitate about spending time, trouble, and money, or giving\nup his comfort, or restricting his aims and denying himself, if he\ncan thereby shut the door on the possibility of misfortune. The most\nterrible misfortunes are also the most improbable and remote\u2014the\nleast likely to occur. The rule I am giving is best exemplified in\nthe practice of insurance,\u2014a public sacrifice made on the altar of\nanxiety. Therefore take out your policy of insurance!\n\nSECTION 51.\n\nWhatever fate befalls you, do not give way to great\nrejoicings or great lamentations; partly because all things are full\nof change, and your fortune may turn at any moment; partly because men\nare so apt to be deceived in their judgment as to what is good or bad\nfor them.\n\nAlmost every one in his turn has lamented over something which\nafterwards turned out to be the very best thing for him that could\nhave happened\u2014or rejoiced at an event which became the source of his\ngreatest sufferings. The right state of mind has been finely portrayed\nby Shakespeare:\n\nI have felt so many quirks of joy and grief That the first face of\nneither, on the start, Can woman me unto't.\n\nAnd, in general, it may be said that, if a man takes misfortunes\nquietly, it is because he knows that very many dreadful things may\nhappen in the course of life; and so he looks upon the trouble of the\nmoment as only a very small part of that which might come. This is\nthe Stoic temper\u2014never to be unmindful of the sad fate of\nhumanity\u2014condicionis humanoe oblitus; but always to remember that\nour existence is full of woe and misery: and that the ills to which we\nare exposed are innumerable. Wherever he be, a man need only cast a\nlook around, to revive the sense of human misery: there before his\neyes he can see mankind struggling and floundering in torment,\u2014all\nfor the sake of a wretched existence, barren and unprofitable!\n\nIf he remembers this, a man will not expect very much from life, but\nlearn to accommodate himself to a world where all is relative and no\nperfect state exists;\u2014always looking misfortune in the face, and if\nhe cannot avoid it, meeting it with courage.\n\nIt should never be forgotten that misfortune, be it great or small, is\nthe element in which we live. But that is no reason why a man should\nindulge in fretful complaints, and, like Beresford, pull a long\nface over the Miseries of Human Life,\u2014and not a single hour is free\nfrom them; or still less, call upon the Deity at every flea-bite\u2014in pulicis morsu Deum invocare. Our aim should be to look well about us,\nto ward off misfortune by going to meet it, to attain such perfection\nand refinement in averting the disagreeable things of life,\u2014whether\nthey come from our fellow-men or from the physical world,\u2014that, like\na clever fox, we may slip out of the way of every mishap, great or\nsmall; remembering that a mishap is generally only our own awkwardness\nin disguise.\n\nThe main reason why misfortune falls less heavily upon us, if we have\nlooked upon its occurrence as not impossible, and, as the saying is,\nprepared ourselves for it, may be this: if, before this misfortune\ncomes, we have quietly thought over it as something which may or may\nnot happen, the whole of its extent and range is known to us, and we\ncan, at least, determine how far it will affect us; so that, if it\nreally arrives, it does not depress us unduly\u2014its weight is not felt\nto be greater than it actually is. But if no preparation has been\nmade to meet it, and it comes unexpectedly, the mind is in a state of\nterror for the moment and unable to measure the full extent of the\ncalamity; it seems so far-reaching in its effects that the victim\nmight well think there was no limit to them; in any case, its range is\nexaggerated. In the same way, darkness and uncertainty always increase\nthe sense of danger. And, of course, if we have thought over the\npossibility of misfortune, we have also at the same time considered\nthe sources to which we shall look for help and consolation; or, at\nany rate, we have accustomed ourselves to the idea of it.\n\nThere is nothing that better fits us to endure the misfortunes of\nlife with composure, than to know for certain that everything\nthat happens\u2014from the smallest up to the greatest facts of\nexistence\u2014happens of necessity. A man soon accommodates himself\nto the inevitable\u2014to something that must be; and if he knows that\nnothing can happen except of necessity, he will see that things cannot\nbe other that they are, and that even the strangest chances in the\nworld are just as much a product of necessity as phenomena which obey\nwell-known rules and turn out exactly in accordance with expectation.\nLet me here refer to what I have said elsewhere on the soothing effect\nof the knowledge that all things are inevitable and a product of\nnecessity.\n\nIf a man is steeped in the knowledge of this truth, he will, first of\nall, do what he can, and then readily endure what he must.\n\nWe may regard the petty vexations of life that are constantly\nhappening, as designed to keep us in practice for bearing great\nmisfortunes, so that we may not become completely enervated by a\ncareer of prosperity. A man should be as Siegfried, armed cap-a-pie,\ntowards the small troubles of every day\u2014those little differences we\nhave with our fellow-men, insignificant disputes, unbecoming conduct\nin other people, petty gossip, and many other similar annoyances of\nlife; he should not feel them at all, much less take them to heart and\nbrood over them, but hold them at arm's length and push them out of\nhis way, like stones that lie in the road, and upon no account think\nabout them and give them a place in his reflections.\n\nSECTION 52.\n\nWhat people commonly call Fate is, as a general rule,\nnothing but their own stupid and foolish conduct. There is a fine\npassage in Homer, illustrating the truth of this remark, where\nthe poet praises [GREEK: maetis]\u2014shrewd council; and his advice\nis worthy of all attention. For if wickedness is atoned for only in\nanother world, stupidity gets its reward here\u2014although, now and then,\nmercy may be shown to the offender.\n\nIt is not ferocity but cunning that strikes fear into the heart\nand forebodes danger; so true it is that the human brain is a more\nterrible weapon than the lion's paw.\n\nThe most finished man of the world would be one who was never\nirresolute and never in a hurry.\n\nSECTION 53.\n\nCourage comes next to prudence as a quality of mind very\nessential to happiness. It is quite true that no one can endow himself\nwith either, since a man inherits prudence from his mother and courage\nfrom his father; still, if he has these qualities, he can do much to\ndevelop them by means of resolute exercise.\n\nIn this world, where the game is played with loaded dice, a man must\nhave a temper of iron, with armor proof to the blows of fate, and\nweapons to make his way against men. Life is one long battle; we have\nto fight at every step; and Voltaire very rightly says that if we\nsucceed, it is at the point of the sword, and that we die with the\nweapon in our hand\u2014on ne reussit dans ce monde qua la pointe de\nl'epee, et on meurt les armes a la main. It is a cowardly soul that\nshrinks or grows faint and despondent as soon as the storm begins to\ngather, or even when the first cloud appears on the horizon. Our motto\nshould be No Surrender; and far from yielding to the ills of life,\nlet us take fresh courage from misfortune:\u2014\n\nTu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito.\n\nAs long as the issue of any matter fraught with peril is still in\ndoubt, and there is yet some possibility left that all may come right,\nno one should ever tremble or think of anything but resistance,\u2014just\nas a man should not despair of the weather if he can see a bit of blue\nsky anywhere. Let our attitude be such that we should not quake even\nif the world fell in ruins about us:\u2014\n\nSi fractus illabatur orbis\nImpavidum ferient ruinae.\n\nOur whole life itself\u2014let alone its blessings\u2014would not be worth\nsuch a cowardly trembling and shrinking of the heart. Therefore, let\nus face life courageously and show a firm front to every ill:\u2014\n\nQuocirca vivite fortes Fortiaque adversis opponite pectora rebus.\n\nStill, it is possible for courage to be carried to an excess and to\ndegenerate into rashness. It may even be said that some amount of fear\nis necessary, if we are to exist at all in the world, and cowardice\nis only the exaggerated form of it. This truth has been very well\nexpressed by Bacon, in his account of Terror Panicus; and the\netymological account which he gives of its meaning, is very superior\nto the ancient explanation preserved for us by Plutarch. He\nconnects the expression with Pan the personification of Nature;\nand observes that fear is innate in every living thing, and, in fact,\ntends to its preservation, but that it is apt to come into play\nwithout due cause, and that man is especially exposed to it. The chief\nfeature of this Panie Terror is that there is no clear notion of any\ndefinite danger bound up with it; that it presumes rather than knows\nthat danger exists; and that, in case of need, it pleads fright itself\nas the reason for being afraid.","title":"Counsels and Maxims/Chapter IV","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":4085}