574
Never forget.—The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.
575
We aeronauts of the intellect.—All those bold birds which sour into far and farthest space will somewhere or other surely find themselves able to proceed on their flight, and perch down on a mast or narrow ledge, and be grateful for this wretched accommodation. But who would infer herefrom that there was not a immense free space in front of them, that they had flown as far as they could possibly fly? All our great teachers and predecessors have, in the end, come to a standstill, and it is not the noblest or most graceful movement with which the weary pause: the same thing will happen to me and to you. But what does this matter to me or to you? Other birds will fly further! Our insight and credulity vie with them in soaring far out and on high; they rise straight above our heads and its impotence, and from thence will survey the distant horizon, seeing the crowds of birds, much more powerful than we are, flying before them, striving whither we have striven, and where all is sea and nothing but sea! And whither then are we bound? Do we want to cross the sea? Whither does this powerful desire urge us, which we value more highly than any delight ?
