Excerpt from The Vocation of Man "Whatever is great and good in our own age is wholly due to this, that noble and strong men in the past have for the sake of ideas made sacrifice of all the enjoyments of life." This statement of Fichte's is indicative at once of the spirit that pervaded his philosophy and of the principles that governed his life. For him "the idea" was supreme, and the philosopher's life and work the noblest of all careers; but that life and that work had true significance and value only because they led humanity to ever loftier and purer heights. Like Carlyle, who learned so much from him, Fichte perhaps overestimated the part played by the moral hero in the spiritual evolution of the race, and we must admit that his own character was not free from the combativeness and obstinacy which so often accompany great intensity of conviction, yet both in his doctrine and his life his individualism retained always its uplifting and regenerating power. If his opinions were held stubbornly and sometimes promulgated dogmatically, they were ever warmed and illuminated by an ardent moral enthusiasm. Few are the earnest students of speculative thought who after a thorough study of his works will give their unqualified assent to his system as a whole, but perhaps fewer still will fail to glean something of value for thinking and living from the harvest of his philosophy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.