Cimourdain was silent, while Gauvain continued:
"When one climbs to the top of the ladder one has reached God. God is revealed, and one has but to enter into heaven."
Cimourdain made the gesture of one who calls another back: "Gauvain, return to earth. We want to realize the possible."
"Do not begin then by making it impossible."
"The possible may always be realized."
"Not always. Rough usage destroys Utopia. Nothing is more defenceless than the egg."
"Still, Utopia must be seized and forced to wear the yoke of reality; she must be circumscribed by a system of actual facts. The abstract must be resolved into the concrete: what it loses in beauty it gains in usefulness; although contracted, it is improved. Justice must enter into law; and when justice has become law, it is absolute. That is what I call the possible."
"The possible includes more than that."
"Ah, there you go again, soaring away into the land of dreams!"
"The possible is a mysterious bird, always hovering above the head of man."