ast plans, would dream of glory, and betake myself to
work; but a pleasure party would divert me from the noble projects based
on so infirm a purpose. Vague recollections of these great abortive
schemes of mine left a deceptive glow in my soul and fostered my belief
in myself, without giving me the energy to produce. In my indolent
self-sufficiency I was in a very fair way to become a fool, for what is
a fool but a man who fails to justify the excellent opinion which he has
formed of himself? My energy was directed towards no definite aims; I
wished for the flowers of life without the toil of cultivating them. I
had no idea of the obstacles, so I imagined that everything was easy;
luck, I thought, accounted for success in science and in business, and
genius was charlatanism. I took it for granted that I should be a
great man, because there was the power of becoming one within me; so I
discounted all my future glory, without giving a thought to the patience
required for the conception of a great work, nor of the execution, in
the course of which all the difficulties of the task appear.

"The sources of my amusements were soon exhausted. The charm of the
theatre does not last for very long; and, for a poor student, Paris
shortly became an empty wilderness. They were dull and uninteresting
people that I met with in the circle of the family with whom I lived;
but these, and an old man who had now lost touch with the world, were
all the society that I had.

"So, like every young man who takes a dislike to the career marked out
for him, I rambled about the streets for whole days together; I strolled
along the quays, through the museums and public gardens, making no
attempt to arrive at a clear understanding of my position, and without
a single definite idea in my head. The burden of unemployed energies is
more felt at that age than at any other; there is such an abundance of
vitality running to waste, so much activity without result. I had no
idea of the power that a resolute will puts into the hands of a man in
his youth; for when he has ideas and puts his whole heart and soul into
the work of carrying them out, his strength is yet further increased by
the undaunted courage of youthful convictions.

"Childhood in its simplicity knows nothing of the perils of life; youth
sees both its vastness and its difficulties, and at the prospect
the courage of youth sometimes flags. We are still serving our
apprenticeship to life; we