The difference between talents and character is adroitness to keep the old and trodden round， power and courage to make a new road to new and better goals. Character makes an overpowering present； a cheerful， determined hour， which fortifies all the company by making them see that much is possible and excellent that was not thought of. Character dulls the impression of particular events. When we see the conqueror we do not think much of any one battle or success. We see that we had exaggerated the difficulty. It was easy to him. The great man is not convulsible or tormentable； events pass over him without much impression. People say sometimes，“See what I have overcome； see how cheerful I am； see how completely I have triumphed over these black events.” Not if they still remind me of the black event. True conquest is the Causing the calamity to fade and disappear as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and advancing.
The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves， to be surprised out of our propriety， to lose our sempiternal memory and to do something without knowing how or why； in short to draw a new circle. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful； it is by abandonment. The great moments of history are the facilities of performance through the strength of ideas， as the work of genius and religion. “A man.” said Cromwell， “never rises so high as when he knows not whither he is going.” Dreams and drunkenness， the use of opium and alcohol are the semblance and counterfeit of this oracular genius， and hence their dangerous attraction for men. For the like reason they ask the aid of wild passions， as in gaming and war， to ape in some manner these flames and generosities of the heart.
眼睛是第一個圓，眼前的地平線是第二個圓。這個原始的形狀在自然界到處都是，沒有止境。圓是一種最高形式的象征。聖·奧古斯丁把圓作為對上帝本質的描述，它有著無所不在的圓心，但是其圓周卻無處尋覓。我們用一生的時間來研究這個最原始的圖形有什麽豐富內涵。在討論人類每一個行為的循環及其補償性時，我們從中探尋出了一種道德寓意。我們要研究的另一個類比是：沒有什麽行為不能夠被超越。有這樣一條真理貫穿在我們的生活當中，即：在任何一個圓的外圍都可以畫出另外一個圓；自然沒有極限，每個終點都是一個新的起點；太陽爬到最高處時，總會有另一道曙光冉冉升起；深海處還有更深的海床。