quote · Legacy record
Man hath much need of courage; and need to brace His spiritual nerve in solitude; Self-trusting, self-sustained, and self-imbued; Seeking God in his own heart's secret place. To perfect self, and in that self embrace The triune essence of truth, beauty, and good; This is fulfilment, this beatitude Throned high above base fears and hopes more base. What shall it profit us, if, gaining all The privilege of priest-made paradise, We lose therewith our self which is the soul? And wherefore should we shrink from even the fall, If haply we should fail with steadfast eyes Fixed only on so bright, so pure a goal?
Man hath much need of courage; and need to brace His spiritual nerve in solitude; Self-trusting, self-sustained, and self-imbued; Seeking God in his own heart's secret place. To perfect self, and in that self embrace The triune essence of truth, beauty, and good; This is fulfilment, this beatitude Throned high above base fears and hopes more base. What shall it profit us, if, gaining all The privilege of priest-made paradise, We lose therewith our self which is the soul? And wherefore should we shrink from even the fall, If haply we should fail with steadfast eyes Fixed only on so bright, so pure a goal?
In print by 1911 AD · modern
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- John Addington Symonds
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- In print by 1911 AD · modern
In print by 1911: recorded in The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 199; printed byline: John Addington Symonds; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.