he world have simply been men with wondrous Sympathy.

But Knowledge must go with Sympathy, else the emotions will become maudlin
and pity may be wasted on a poodle instead of a child; on a field-mouse
instead of a human soul. Knowledge in use is wisdom, and wisdom implies a
sense of values--you know a big thing from a little one, a valuable fact
from a trivial one. Tragedy and comedy are simply questions of value: a
little misfit in life makes us laugh, a great one is tragedy and cause for
grief.

Poise is the strength of body and strength of mind to control your
Sympathy and your Knowledge. Unless you control your emotions they run
over and you stand in the slop. Sympathy must not run riot, or it is
valueless and tokens weakness instead of strength. In every hospital for
nervous disorders are to be found many instances of this loss of control.
The individual has Sympathy, but not Poise, and therefore his life is
worthless to himself and to the world.

He symbols inefficiency, not helpfulness. Poise reveals itself more in
voice than in words; more in thought than in action; more in atmosphere
than in conscious life. It is a spiritual quality, and is felt more than
it is seen. It is not a matter of size, nor bodily attitude, nor attire,
nor personal comeliness: it is a state of inward being, and of knowing
your cause is just. And so you see it is a great and profound subject
after all, great in its ramifications, limitless in extent, implying the
entire science of right living. I once met a man who was deformed in body
and little more than a dwarf, but who had such Spiritual Gravity--such
Poise--that to enter a room where he was, was to feel his presence and
acknowledge his superiority. To allow Sympathy to waste itself on unworthy
subjects is to deplete one's life-forces. To conserve is the part of
wisdom. No great orator ever exerts himself to his fullest, and reserve is
a necessary element in all good literature, as well as in everything else.
Poise being the control of your Sympathy and Knowledge implies the
possession of these attributes, for without Sympathy and Knowledge you
have nothing to control but your physical body. To practise Poise as a
mere gymnastic exercise, or a study in etiquette, is to be self-conscious,
stiff, preposterous and ridiculous. Those who cut such fantastic tricks
before high heaven as make angels weep are men void of Sympathy and
Knowledge trying to cultivate Poise. Their science is a m