No permanent good comes from aspirations so
lofty that they have grown fantastic and have become impossible and
indeed undesirable to realize. The impracticable visionary is far less
often the guide and precursor than he is the embittered foe of the
real reformer, of the man who, with stumblings and shortcomings, yet
does in some shape, in practical fashion, give effect to the hopes and
desires of those who strive for better things. Woe to the empty
phrase-maker, to the empty idealist, who, instead of making ready the
ground for the man of action, turns against him when he appears and
hampers him as he does the work! Moreover, the preacher of ideals must
remember how sorry and contemptible is the figure which he will cut,
how great the damage that he will do, if he does not himself, in his
own life, strive measurably to realize the ideals that he preaches for
others. Let him remember also that the worth of the ideal must be
largely determined by the success with which it can in practice be
realized. We should abhor the so-called "practical" men whose
practicality assumes the shape of that peculiar baseness which finds
its expression in disbelief in morality and decency, in disregard of
high standards of living and conduct. Such a creature is the worst
enemy of the body politic.
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