It is not a circumscribed situation so much as a narrow vision that
creates pedants; not having a pet study or science, but a narrow, vulgar
soul, which prevents a man from seeing all sides and hearing all things;
in short, the intolerant man is the real pedant.--_Richter._
~Perfection.~--It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may
always advance towards it, though we know it can never be
reached.--_Johnson._
Perfection does not exist; to understand it is the triumph of human
intelligence; to desire to possess it is the most dangerous kind of
madness.--_Alfred de Musset._
That historian who would describe a favorite character as faultless
raises another at the expense of himself. Zeuxis made five virgins
contribute their charms to his single picture of Helen; and it is as
vain for the moralist to look for perfection in the mind, as for the
painter to expect to find it in the body.--_Colton._