Thus, when a superior intellect and a psychopathic temperament coalesce. . . in the same individual, we have the best possible conditions for the kind of effective genius that gets into the biographical dictionaries.

Such men do not remain mere critics and understanders with their intellect. Their ideas possess them, they inflict them, for better or worse, upon their companions or their age.

William James, ‘Father of American psychology’ (1842–1910)

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further; it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow
Across that angry or that glimmering sea.

From The Golden Road to Samarkand by James Elroy Flecker (1884–1915). This verse is inscribed on the clock tower of the Special Air Service base in Hereford.



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