On The Stage On Which We Are

No Man Is A Hero To His Valet De Chamber

Nothing Great Has Been And Nothing Great Can Be Accomplished Without Passion. It Is Only A Dead, Too Often, Indeed, A Hypocriticalmoralizing Which Inveighs Against The Form Of Passion As Such.

If We Go On To Cast A Look At The Fate Of These World-historical Persons, Whose Vocation It Was To Be The Agents Of The World-spirit, We Shall Find It To Have Been No Happy One. They Attained No Calm Enjoyment; Their Whole Life Was Labour And Trouble; Their Whole Nature Was Nought Else But Their Master—passion. When Their Object Is Attained They Fall Off Like Empty Hulls From The Kernel. They Die Early, Like Alexander; They Are Murdered, Like Caesar.

On The Stage On Which We Are Observing It, — Universal History — Spirit Displays Itself In Its Most Concrete Reality.

Amid The Pressure Of Great Events, A General Principle Gives No Help.