A Short History of the World

These figures will serve perhaps to give one some conception of the immense emptiness of space in which the drama of life goes on.

The variety of the universe is infinite and incessant; it progresses eternally; history never repeats itself and no parallels are precisely true.

Of course there may be deception in these appearances, as a room may be made to seem endless by putting mirrors facing each other at either end.

Plato said plainly to mankind: “Most of the social and political ills from which you suffer are under your control, given only the will and courage to change them. You can live in another and a wiser fashion if you choose to think it out and work it out. You are not awake to your own power.”

Systematic thinking is apparently a comparatively late development in human experience; it has not played any great part in human life until within the last three thousand years. And even to-day those who really control and order their thoughts are but a small minority of mankind. Most of the world still lives by imagination and passion.

heart of a valiant enemy