ddy fruit on every branch; with the motto _Dum
convellor mitescunt_, or _Conquassata sed ferax._

That purely intellectual life of the individual has its counterpart in
humanity as a whole. For there, too, the real life is the life of the
_will_, both in the empirical and in the transcendental meaning of the
word. The purely intellectual life of humanity lies in its effort to
increase knowledge by means of the sciences, and its desire to perfect
the arts. Both science and art thus advance slowly from one generation
to another, and grow with the centuries, every race as it hurries by
furnishing its contribution. This intellectual life, like some gift
from heaven, hovers over the stir and movement of the world; or it
is, as it were, a sweet-scented air developed out of the ferment
itself--the real life of mankind, dominated by will; and side by side
with the history of nations, the history of philosophy, science and
art takes its innocent and bloodless way.

The difference between the genius and the ordinary man is, no doubt, a
_quantitative_ one, in so far as it is a difference of degree; but I
am tempted to regard it also as _qualitative_, in view of the fact
that ordinary minds, notwithstanding individual variation, have a
certain tendency to think alike. Thus on similar occasions their
thoughts at once all take a similar direction, and run on the same
lines; and this explains why their judgments constantly agree--not,
however, because they are based on truth. To such lengths does this go
that certain fundamental views obtain amongst mankind at all times,
and are always being repeated and brought forward anew, whilst the
great minds of all ages are in open or secret opposition to them.

A genius is a man in whose mind the world is presented as an object
is presented in a mirror, but with a degree more of clearness and a
greater distinction of outline than is attained by ordinary people.
It is from him that humanity may look for most instruction; for the
deepest insight into the most important matters is to be acquired, not
by an observant attention to detail, but by a close study of things as
a whole. And if his mind reaches maturity, the instruction he gives
will be conveyed now in one form, now in another. Thus genius may be
defined as an eminently clear consciousness of things in general, and
therefore, also of that which is opposed to them, namely, one's own
self.

The world looks up to a man thus endowed, and