Civilizations are externalizations of the soul and character of races.
They are majestic or mean according to the treasure of beauty,
imagination, will, and thought laid up in the soul of the people. That
great mid-European State, which while I write is at bay surrounded by
enemies, did not arrive at that pitch of power which made it dominant in
Europe simply by militarism. That military power depended on and was
fed by a vigorous intellectual life, and the most generally diffused
education and science existing perhaps in the world. The national being
had been enriched by a long succession of mighty thinkers. A great
subjective life and centuries of dream preceded a great objective
manifestation of power and wealth. The stir in the German Empire which
has agitated Europe was, at its root, the necessity laid on a powerful
soul to surround itself with equal external circumstance. That
necessity is laid on all nations, on all individuals, to make their
external life correspond in some measure to their internal dream. A
lover of beauty will never contentedly live in a house where all things
are devoid of taste.
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