midnight
You raise the wail of Ecclesiastes , `` All is vanity and a striving after wind , and there is no profit under the sun . '' The Preacher and Omar and Swinburne are pathetically human , and we who are also human respond to their finality , to their quizzical indifference and their stinging resentment . We also say , `` Vanity of vanities , '' and bow our heads murmuring `` Ilicet , '' and stretch out our hands to `` turn down an empty glass , '' but all this in twilight moods when a dimness as of dying rests upon the soul . There are a few with whom it is always morning , and others who remember something of the radiance of the young day even in the heart of midnight . These disprove the postulates of sameness and satiety , these are not smitten by the seen fact as are you of the microscopic retina , these `` see life steadily and see it whole . '' We need not fear the label of an idea . When I say that your position is that of the pessimist , it is not more of an accusation than if I said it was that of the optimist .