Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Great might-not-have-been

I always thought growing older meant getting smarter, wiser, and more mature; holier even. Reality seems to suggest otherwise. So many times I'm like, "What the hell happened... Why am I not better?"

I've been reading G.K. Chesterton's 'Orthodoxy', and was encouraged by this little bit today (p. 62):

"Men spoke much in my boyhood of restricted or ruined men of genius: and it was common to say that many a man was a Great Might-Have-Been. To me it is a more solid and startling fact that any man in the street is a Great Might-Not-Have-Been."

 

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