Nevertheless, we have some reason to hope that history will not repeat itself for us since we possess means of knowing and acting not available to our ancestors. For the first time in the history of the world, a civilization which has arrived at the verge of its decline is able to diagnose its ills. Perhaps it will be able to use this knowledge and, thanks to the marvellous forces of science, to avoid the common fate of all the great peoples of the past. We ought to launch ourselves on this new path from this very moment. We are incapable, in our present state of division and confusion, of transforming our institutions all at once.
Modern society is a heavy construction weighed down with all the errors of the past.
At this moment we have neither the intelligence nor the strength to build up every single part of a new world. Before renewing our institutions, we must renovate ourselves and this effort of renovation can be begun here and now by anyone who chooses. It may seem absurd to believe that we, obscure as we are, should be capable of effecting the revival of our nation by a tiny individual effort. Yet a very feeble effort becomes irresistible when it is multiplied millions of times. No one should think his contribution to the common work useless, however insignificant it may seem to himself.