branches of human activity the most like a gambling game.


22. HOW THIS ACCORDS BEST WITH THE HUMAN MIND IN GENERAL.

Although our intellect always feels itself urged towards clearness and
certainty, still our mind often feels itself attracted by uncertainty.
Instead of threading its way with the understanding along the narrow
path of philosophical investigations and logical conclusions, in order,
almost unconscious of itself, to arrive in spaces where it feels itself
a stranger, and where it seems to part from all well-known objects, it
prefers to remain with the imagination in the realms of chance and luck.
Instead of living yonder on poor necessity, it revels here in the wealth
of possibilities; animated thereby, courage then takes wings to itself,
and daring and danger make the element into which it launches itself as
a fearless swimmer plunges into the stream.

Shall theory leave it here, and move on, self-satisfied with absolute
conclusions and rules? Then it is of no practical use. Theory must also
take into account the human element; it must accord a place to courage,
to boldness, even to rashness. The Art of War has to deal with living
and with moral forces, the consequence of which is that it can never
attain the absolute and positive. There is therefore everywhere a margin
for the accidental, and just as much in the greatest things as in the
smallest. As there is room for this accidental on the one hand, so on
the other there must be courage and self-reliance in proportion to the
room available. If these qualities are forthcoming in a high degree,
the margin left may likewise be great. Courage and self-reliance are,
therefore, principles quite essential to War; consequently, theory
must only set up such rules as allow ample scope for all degrees and