GENIUS AND SUCCESS. 
149 
genius. Men of genius are usually isolated and self - contained ; 
successful men are aggressive, active, and observant of the thoughts 
and feelings of others. Men of genius are very unfit to deal with 
their fellow-creatures ; they are absorbed in their discoveries, but 
don't know how to advertise them. They haven't an idea how 
stupid the world is, and consequently don't see their way to making 
it wiser. They are besides unskilful in contending with the pre- 
judice, corruption, and malice of mankind. The statesman in par- 
ticular has to deal with a seething mass of vanity, ambition, and 
corruption, and cannot possibly indulge himself in any Quixotic 
notions of honour, justice, or gratitude. As political morality 
improves it becomes less necessary for a statesman to be a man of 
the world; and latterly men have become eminent statesmen 
without that qualification. As regards the bar, there are three 
avenues to success — eloquence, law, and politics. Fortunately the 
value of mere legal attainments is going down in the market, and 
the political element proves more and more important. Since all 
reform, owing to the intricacies of the law, must come from within, 
it is important there should be some lawyers who have not had 
their capacity for taking broad views entirely knocked out of them 
by technical study. Sound lawyers combine the greatest amount of 
ability with the least amount of genius. Lawyers who succeed by 
eloquence, do good by importing a new kind of intellect into the 
study of the law, and by obliging the judges to listen to a little 
common sense. The artifices that lead to success are quite innu- 
merable, and not to be learnt. Only a ready instinct can tell us 
when it is best to be natural and when to act. The bar is greatly 
improved by the sprinkling of political lawyers, who have an 
unusual scope for the display of genius, as they are allowed to do 
very much as they like. The medical profession is remarkable for 
the success of genius, and also of imposture. Genius seldom fails, 
but gross imposture very often succeeds. A doctor is judged rather 
by his successes than his failures ; for his successes live and are 
seen, and his failures die and are forgotten. The duty of successful 
men is to be the interpreters of genius. 
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