e is profoundest, most stable and steadfast, is profoundest in noble
lives too--is most stable and steadfast in them. Not to all men is it
given to be hero or genius, victorious, admirable always, or even to be
simply happy in exterior things; but it lies in the power of the least
favoured among us to be loyal, and gentle, and just, to be generous and
brotherly; he that has least gifts of all can learn to look on his
fellows without envy or hatred, without malice or futile regret; the
outcast can take his strange, silent part (which is not always that of
least service) in the gladness of those who are near him; he that has
barely a talent can still learn to forgive an offence with an ever
nobler forgiveness, can find more excuses for error, more admiration
for human word and deed; and the man there are none to love can love,
and reverence, love. And, acting thus, he too will have drawn near the
source whither happy ones flock--oftener far than one thinks, and in
the most ardent hours of happiness even--the source over which they
bend, to make sure that they truly are happy. Far down, at the root of
love's joys--as at the root of the humble life of the upright man from
whom fate has withheld her smile--it is confidence, sincerity,
generosity, tenderness, that alone are truly fixed and unchangeable.
Love throws more lustre still on these points of light, and therefore
must love be sought. For the greatest advantage of love is that it
reveals to us many a peaceful and gentle truth. The greatest advantage
of love is that it gives us occasion to love and admire in one person,
sole and unique, what we should have had neither knowledge nor strength
to love and admire in the many; and that thus it expands our heart for
the time to come, And at the root of the most marvellous love there
never is more than the simplest felicity, an adoration, a tenderness
within the understanding of all, a security, faith, and fidelity all
can acquire an intensely human admiration, devotion--and all these the
eager, unfortunate heart could know too, in its sorrowful life, had it
only a little less impatience and bitterness, a little more initiative
and energy.

THE END

End of Project Gutenberg's Wisdom and Destiny, by Maurice Maeterlinck

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