ABSTRACT
Enterprise is a form of militancy without moral provocation and without enemies. Like faction it feels itself to be a virtue, not only for showing courage and initiative, but particularly for doing so peacefully, without any lust for blood or vengeance, and purely at the call of some open chance to attempt untried and glorious things. And yet, although so blameless and admirable in itself, enterprise somehow secures less admiration and honour than do military or revolutionary achievements. The abusive rhetorician and the smashing victorious general get all the ovations, and the man who has proved his mastery over the fruitful world is never entrusted with the government. War and revolution are public and dramatic events in which everyone participates at least in imagination; but the private discoveries and inventions of the adventurous mind work the transformation of society often without being noticed at all. Even the disasters of warlike ambition fill history with tales of heroism and martyrdom, and even more dramatic crimes and punishments; while the failures of enterprise, if remembered, excite only ridicule or contempt.
