"
But we must be sure that we are really following some trustworthy guide,
and not out of mere laziness allowing ourselves to drift. We have a guide
within us which will generally lead us straight enough.
Religion, no doubt, is full of difficulties, but if we are often puzzled
what to think, we need seldom be in doubt what to do.
"To say well is good, but to do well is better;
Do well is the spirit, and say well the letter;
If do well and say well were fitted in one frame,
All were won, all were done, and got were all the gain."
Cleanthes, who appears to have well merited the statue erected to him at
Assos, says:
"Lead me, O Zeus, and thou, O Destiny.
The way that I am bid by you to go:
To follow I am ready. If I choose not,
I make myself a wretch;--and still must follow."
If we are ever in doubt what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves
what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.
Moreover, the result in the long run will depend not so much on some
single resolution, or on our action in a special case, but rather on the
preparation of daily life.
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