But while the physician, the poet, the artist, and the savant produce but little, and that slowly, the productions of the farmer are much less uncertain, and do not require so long a time.

Whatever be then the capacity of a man,--when this capacity is once created,--it does not belong to him.
Like the material fashioned by an industrious hand, it had the power of BECOMING, and society has given it BEING.

Shall the vase say to the potter, "I am that I am, and I owe you nothing"?
The artist, the savant, and the poet find their just recompense in the permission that society gives them to devote themselves exclusively to science and to art: so that in reality they do not labor for themselves, but for society, which creates them, and requires of them no other duty.
Society can, if need be, do without prose and verse, music and painting, and the knowledge of the movements of the moon and stars; but it cannot live a single day without food and shelter.
Undoubtedly, man does not live by bread alone; he must, also (according to the Gospel), LIVE BY THE WORD OF GOD; that is, he must love the good and do it, know and admire the beautiful, and study the marvels of Nature.

But in order to cultivate his mind, he must first take care of his body,--the latter duty is as necessary as the former is noble.

If it is glorious to charm and instruct men, it is honorable as well to feed them.