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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: their powers. This explains the life of such men as Walter Scott,
Cuvier, Voltaire, Newton, Buffon, Bayle, Bossuet, Leibnitz, Lopez de
Vega, Calderon, Boccacio, Aretino, Aristotle--in short, every man who
delighted, governed, or led his contemporaries.
A man may and ought to pride himself more on his will than on his
talent. Though Talent has its germ in a cultivated gift, Will means
the incessant conquest of his instincts, of proclivities subdued and
mortified, and difficulties of every kind heroically defeated. The
abuse of smoking encouraged Lousteau's indolence. Tobacco, which can
lull grief, inevitably numbs a man's energy.
Then, while the cigar deteriorated him physically, criticism as a
The Muse of the Department |
