There is a subtle power of revelation
which makes us say: "Well, I cannot explain how it is, but I know that
man is not honest."
Man cannot escape for one moment from this radiation of his character,
this constantly weakening or strengthening of others. He cannot evade
the responsibility by saying it is an unconscious influence. He can
_select_ the qualities that he will permit to be radiated. He can
cultivate sweetness, calmness, trust, generosity, truth, justice,
loyalty, nobility,--make them vitally active in his character,--and by
these qualities he will constantly affect the world.
Discouragement often comes to honest souls trying to live the best they
can, in the thought that they are doing so little good in the world.
Trifles unnoted by us may be links in the chain of some great purpose.
In 1797, William Godwin wrote The Inquirer, a collection of
revolutionary essays on morals and politics. This book influenced
Thomas Malthus to write his Essay on Population, published in 1798.
Malthus' book suggested to Charles Darwin a point of view upon which he
devoted many years of his life, resulting, in 1859, in the publication
of The Origin of Species,--the most influential book of the nineteenth
century, a book that has revolutionized all science.
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