Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over. No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there. It is in the thirties that we want friends. In the forties, we know they won't save us any more than love did. So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind. Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead. The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. |