XV. Even Failed Greatness Is Admirable

A defense of ambition, even when the ambition is not fully realized.

Philosophers who do not fully live by what they teach still do great good through the nobility of their thought. The man who attempts great things deserves respect even when he falls short. It is the act of a generous spirit to measure its efforts not by its own strength but by the strength of human nature, to set aims that are too vast even for a large intellect, and to pursue them anyway.

The code the wise man sets for himself runs like this:

I will look on death and on comedy with the same face. I will submit to labor, however great, supporting my body's strength with my mind's. I will despise riches when I have them as much as when I lack them. Whether Fortune comes to me or leaves me I will take no notice of her. I will view all lands as if they belong to me and my own as if they belong to all.

I will live remembering that I was born for others, and thank nature for it. Whatever I possess I will neither hoard greedily nor scatter recklessly. My real possessions are those I have given away to people who deserved them. I will never count a gift as large based on its size alone, but only on the worth of the person who received it. I will do nothing for reputation and everything for conscience. When I am alone I will act as if all of Rome were watching.

I will be agreeable with friends, mild with enemies, ready to forgive before being asked. I will remember that the world is my native city, that its ruler is God, that everything I do is seen.

When nature calls back what she lent me, I will go willingly and say: I have loved a good conscience and good work. I have not diminished anyone's freedom, least of all my own.

That is the code. The person who reaches even partway toward it has done something. Even failure at that height is a kind of nobility.