The difficult and the unintelligible are only conceivable at all in
virtue of their catching on to something less difficult and less
unintelligible and, through this, to things easily done and understood.
It is at these joints in their armour that difficulties should be
attacked.
Never tackle a serious difficulty as long as something which must be
done, and about which you see your way fairly well, remains undone; the
settling of this is sure to throw light upon the way in which the serious
difficulty is to be resolved. It is doing the What-you-can that will
best help you to do the What-you-cannot.
Arrears of small things to be attended to, if allowed to accumulate,
worry and depress like unpaid debts. The main work should always stand
aside for these, not these for the main work, as large debts should stand
aside for small ones, or truth for common charity and good feeling. If
we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall
ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.