But the crown of all our study and the
highest reward of our long labours is the power of
improvisation. The man who fails to acquire this
had better, in my opinion, abandon the task of
advocacy and devote his powers of writing to other
branches of literature. For it is scarcely decent for
an honourable man to promise assistance to the
public at large which he may be unable to provide in
the most serious emergencies, or to attempt to enter
a harbour which his ship cannot hope to make save
when sailing before a gentle breeze.
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