"
Life must be measured rather by depth than by length, by thought and
action rather than by time. "A counted number of pulses only," says Pater,
"is given to us of a variegated, aromatic, life. How may we see in them
all that is to be seen by the finest senses? How can we pass most swiftly
from point to point, and be present always at the focus where the greatest
number of vital forces unite in their purest energy? To burn always with
this hard gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.
Failure is to form habits, for habit is relation to a stereotyped
world:... while all melts under our feet, we may well catch at any
exquisite passion, or any contribution to knowledge, that seems, by a
lifted horizon, to set the spirit free for a moment."
I would not quote Lord Chesterfield as generally a safe guide, but there
is certainly much shrewd wisdom in his advice to his son with reference to
time. "Every moment you now lose, is so much character and advantage lost;
as, on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully, is so much
time wisely laid out, at prodigious interest.
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