Justice and virtue, wrongdoing, violence and vice, talents and their deeds, the small and the great passions, guilt and innocence, the splendor of individual and national life, independence, the good and ill fortune of states and of individuals, have their determinate meaning and worth within the sphere of conscious actuality, and there find their judgment and their — albeit imperfect — justice. World history falls outside these points of view; in it that necessary moment of the Idea of the world spirit which constitutes its present stage attains its absolute right, and the nation living within that stage, together with its deeds, attains its consummation, good fortune, and fame.