day no. 16,372: the reign of the cowards come to an end

"Everywhere there is the persistent and insane attempt to obtain pleasure without paying for it. Thus, in politics the modern Jingoes practically say, 'Let us have the pleasure of conquerors without the pains of soldiers: let us sit on sofas and be a hardy race.’ Thus, in religion and morals, the decadent mystics say: ‘Let us have the fragrance of sacred purity without the sorrows of self-restraint; let us sing hymns alternately to the Virgin and Priapus.’ Thus in love the free-lovers say: ‘Let us have the splendour of offering ourselves without the peril of committing ourselves; let us see whether one cannot commit suicide an unlimited number of times.’ Emphatically it will not work. There are thrilling moments, doubtless, for the spectator, the amateur, and the aesthete; but there is one thrill that is known only to the soldier who fights for his own flag, to the aesthetic who starves himself for his own illumination, to the lover who makes finally his own choice... All around us is the city of small sins, abounding in backways and retreats, but surely, sooner or later, the towering flame will rise from the harbour announcing that the reign of the cowards is over and a man is burning his ships." — G.K. Chesterton, In Defense of Rash Vows

The reign of the cowards is characterized by men wanting the reputation of a patient man on time table of an impatient one, the respect of a faithful man with the responsibilities of an unfaithful one, the harvest of a hard working man with the leisure of a lazy one, or the long term success of a fruitful life with the short term pleasures of a fruitless one. In short, men want the orgasm without the child, the buzz without the hangover, the satisfaction without the work, and the fire without the burn, but the reign of those cowards will come to an end; and the rumor is that someone has found a book of matches.