he in believing that just around the corner
fortune awaited him.

DIAGNOSIS OF THE IMPRACTICAL MAN'S CASE

The fundamental difficulty with the impractical man is two fold. First,
his powers of observation are so deficient that it is difficult for him to
obtain facts. It is an axiom of conscious life that there is pleasure and
satisfaction in the use of well-developed powers and a disinclination to
use powers which are deficient in development. Because it is difficult for
the impractical man to obtain facts, he has little desire to obtain them.
He takes little interest in them, does not appreciate their value. He,
therefore, assumes his facts, takes them for granted or proceeds almost
wholly without them. Even when he does take the trouble to ascertain the
facts, he is inclined to be hasty and slipshod in his methods. He,
therefore does not obtain all of the necessary information bearing upon
his problem. He does not painstakingly verify his knowledge through
repeated observations, under all kinds of conditions. So he is frequently
mistaken and reasons to his conclusions upon supposed facts which are not
facts at all.

Second, the impractical man, as a general rule, has well-developed powers
of reason, logic, and imagination. His mind easily and unerringly leaps
from premises to conclusion and weaves long and beautiful chains of
reasoning, each link perfectly formed. The only trouble is that none of
the chains are attached to anything solid and substantial at either end.
With highly developed powers of imagination, it follows that the
impractical man loves to dream, to build castles in the air. When he
attempts to form a judgment or reach a conclusion, he may possibly begin
by attempting to ascertain the facts. But observation for him is a slow
and painful process. He does not enjoy it. He has no patience with it.
Mere facts restrict him. Practical reasoning is like walking painfully,
step by step, along a narrow, steep pathway, leading to a fixed
destination at which the traveler arrives whether he wills it or not. The
impractical man's form of reasoning, starting at the same place, soars
into the air, dips and sweeps in magnificent and inspiring curves and
finally sets him down at whatever destination seems most desirable to him.
His well-developed powers of imagination are usually more than willing to
supply the deficiencies in his powers of observation. In his own realm he
is a valuable member of society--often