There is no proportion between spaces of time in importance nor in value.

A stray, unthought-of five minutes may contain the event of a life.

And this all-important moment--who can tell when it will be upon us ?" "What we call a turning-point," says Arnold, "is simply an occasion which sums up and brings to a result previous training.

Accidental circumstances are nothing except to men who have been trained to take advantage of them." The trouble with us is that we are ever looking for a princely chance of acquiring riches, or fame, or worth.

We are dazzled by what Emerson calls the "shallow Americanism" of the day.