actory, the little clerk in Mr. Gradgrind's office--he is too mentally
worried to believe in freedom. He is kept quiet with revolutionary
literature. He is calmed and kept in his place by a constant succession
of wild philosophies. He is a Marxian one day, a Nietzscheite the next
day, a Superman (probably) the next day; and a slave every day. The only
thing that remains after all the philosophies is the factory. The only
man who gains by all the philosophies is Gradgrind. It would be worth
his while to keep his commercial helotry supplied with sceptical
literature. And now I come to think of it, of course, Gradgrind is
famous for giving libraries. He shows his sense. All modern books are on
his side. As long as the vision of heaven is always changing, the vision
of earth will be exactly the same. No ideal will remain long enough to
be realised, or even partly realised. The modern young man will never
change his environment; for he will always change his mind.

This, therefore, is our first requirement about the ideal towards which
progress is directed; it must be fixed. Whistler used to make many rapid
studies of a sitter; it did not matter if he tore up twenty portraits.
But it would matter if he looked up twenty times, and each time saw a
new person sitting placidly for his portrait. So it does not matter
(comparatively speaking) how often humanity fails to imitate its ideal;
for then all its old failures are fruitful. But it does frightfully
matter how often humanity changes its ideal; for then all its old
failures are fruitless. The question therefore becomes this: How can we
keep the artist discontented with his pictures while preventing him from
being vitally discontented with his art? How can we make a man always
dissatisfied with his work, yet always satisfied with working? How can
we make sure that the portrait painter will throw the portrait out of
window instead of taking the natural and more human course of throwing
the sitter out of window?

A strict rule is not only necessary for ruling; it is also necessary for
rebelling. This fixed and familiar ideal is necessary to any sort of
revolution. Man will sometimes act slowly upon new ideas; but he will
only act swiftly upon old ideas. If I am merely to float or fade or
evolve, it may be towards something anarchic; but if I am to riot, it
must be for something respectable. This is the whole weakness of certain
schools of progress and moral evolution. They sugge