darkness as at all that it threw into light. At first he could have
wished in his heart that the doors had been somewhat less lofty, the
staircases not quite so ample, the galleries less lost in gloom; but
as he went straight before him, he felt all the beauty and grandeur
of that which was yet so unlike the home of his dream. He rejoiced
to discover that here bed and table were not the centre round which
all revolved, as it had been with him in his hut. He was glad that
the palace had not been built to conform with the humble habits his
misery had forced upon him. He even learned to admire the things
that defeated his hopes, for they enabled his eyes to see deeper.
The sage is consoled and fortified by everything that exists, for
indeed it is of the essence of wisdom to seek out all that exists,
and to admit it within its circle.

84. Wisdom even admits the Rogrons; for she holds life of profounder
interest than even justice or virtue; and where her attention is
disputed by a virtue lost in abstraction, and by a humble, walled-in
life, she will incline to the humble life, and not to the
magnificent virtue that holds itself proudly aloof. It is of the
nature of wisdom to despise nothing; indeed, in this world there is
perhaps only one thing truly contemptible, and that thing is
contempt itself. Thinkers too often are apt to despise those who go
through life without thinking. Thought is doubtless of high value;
our first endeavour should be to think as often and as well as we
can; but, for all that, it is somewhat beside the mark to believe
that the possession, or lack, of a certain faculty for handling
general ideas can interpose an actual barrier between men. After
all, the difference between the greatest thinker and the smallest
provincial burgher is often only the difference between a truth that
can sometimes express itself and a truth that can never crystallise