One dreams of a life in which everyone would be the apostle of what he
possesses and where all would be the disciples of each.
If you wish to be an apostle, begin by never mislaying any of your
wealth.
I once had a friend who said to me almost every day: “This morning I
had a beautiful thought; but I can’t find it again, I’ve forgotten it,
I’ve lost it.”
You have a purse to contain your money; condescend to have a scrap of
paper on which you can put your thoughts, where you can set them in
order. It is a slight means to what will eventually be a great end. Be
economical of your treasures so that you may be lavish of them at the
opportune moment. Do not lose what you wish to give away.
You are like the seeker after gold, on your knees by the bank of a
river that rolls with sand and with nuggets.
The rushing flood of your soul flows by, and you watch it with fear
and delight. Every sort of thing is in it: mud, grass, gold, flowers,
formless and nameless debris. Gather to one side what you deem worthy
to be preserved, do not let it escape in the torrent.
This mass of thoughts that crowd and elbow one another, this storm that
tumbles its way over you, this unending dream that you have when you
are awake, when your soul abandons itself to its natural, spontaneous
impulses, there, indeed, is matter to terrify you! So many things
appear and are swallowed up again that scandalize or horrify you; so
many contradictions bewilder you, so many jewels shine furtively forth,
that you are by turns filled with consternation, stupefied, dazzled.
You must choose among all these things. You must draw out of the
current what you recognize as of value to you, and let the rest sink.
I beg you, keep the reckoning of your own soul. Keep a little book in
your pocket that is carefully brought up to date. And do not trust
your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip
through it.
You must not have too much fear of not being up to your task when you
are approaching great problems and great works.
That is something worth meditating for him who sets himself to
obtaining possession of the world, who wishes to invite his companions
to do the same.
Though it may have all the appearance of naïveté, confidence is less to
be feared than the terror of ridicule that paralyzes so many souls at
the beginning of the most beautiful adventures.
The fear of enthusiasm does as much harm as obvious wickedness.
It is better to pass for a simpleton and become the laughing-stock of
the disillusioned than to miss the opportunity to serve as the apostle
of one’s beloved verities. It is better to squander one’s fortune than
to run the risk of being the only one to profit from it. There will
always be a farthing to fall into eager hands.
The main thing is to be, above everything else, a man of good will.
The true enemy, if there is any such, is the pharisee, the man of
outward observance, he who adopts every religion as a matter of
fashion, who speaks frequently and passionately of his soul in the same
way in which he speaks of his necktie.