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Heretics by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
page 76 of 200 (38%)

Some hold that such papers as these are scarcely the proper
objects of so serious a consideration; but that can scarcely
be maintained from a political or ethical point of view.
In this problem of the mildness and tameness of the Harmsworth mind
there is mirrored the outlines of a much larger problem which is
akin to it.

The Harmsworthian journalist begins with a worship of success
and violence, and ends in sheer timidity and mediocrity.
But he is not alone in this, nor does he come by this fate merely
because he happens personally to be stupid. Every man, however brave,
who begins by worshipping violence, must end in mere timidity.
Every man, however wise, who begins by worshipping success, must end
in mere mediocrity. This strange and paradoxical fate is involved,
not in the individual, but in the philosophy, in the point of view.
It is not the folly of the man which brings about this
necessary fall; it is his wisdom. The worship of success is
the only one out of all possible worships of which this is true,
that its followers are foredoomed to become slaves and cowards.
A man may be a hero for the sake of Mrs. Gallup's ciphers or for
the sake of human sacrifice, but not for the sake of success.
For obviously a man may choose to fail because he loves
Mrs. Gallup or human sacrifice; but he cannot choose to fail
because he loves success. When the test of triumph is men's test
of everything, they never endure long enough to triumph at all.
As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flattery
or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope
begins to be a strength at all. Like all the Christian virtues,
it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable.
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