In the practical sphere no less than in the theoretical sphere, the understanding is indispensable. Action essentially requires character, and a person of character is a human being who understands and, as such, eyes determinate purposes and firmly pursues them. Someone who wants to do something great must know, as Goethe says, how to limit himself. By contrast, someone who wants everything in fact wants nothing and accomplishes nothing. There are a lot of interesting things in the world: Spanish poetry, chemistry, politics, music. All of that is very interesting, and one cannot blame anybody who takes an interest in them. However, if as an individual one wants to achieve something in a particular situation, one must stick to something determinate and not split up one’s power in various directions.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic Outline: Part I: Science of Logic. Translated and edited by Klaus Brinkmann and Daniel O. Dahlstrom, Cambridge University Press, 2010, § 80, p. 127.