The Dawn of Day

377

What we may conclude from fantastic Ideals. – Where our deficiencies are, there also is our enthusiasm. The enthusiastic principle “love your enemies” had to be invented by the Jews, the best haters that ever existed; and the finest glorifications of chastity have been written by those who in their youth led dissolute and licentious lives.

378

Clean Hands and clean Walls. – Do not paint the picture either of God or the devil on your walls: for in so doing you will spoil your walls as well as your surroundings.[11 - That is, do not speak either of God or the devil. The German proverb runs: “Man soll den Teufel nicht an die Wand malen, sonst kommt er.” – Tr.]

379

Probable and Improbable. – A woman secretly loved a man, raised him far above her, and said to herself hundreds of times in her inmost heart, “If a man like that were to love me, I should look upon it as a condescension before which I should have to humble myself in the dust.” – And the man entertained the same feelings towards the woman, and in his inmost heart he felt the very same thought. When at last both their tongues were loosened, and they had communicated their most secret thoughts to one another, a deep and meditative silence ensued. Then the woman said in a cold voice: “The thing is quite clear! We are neither of us that which we loved! If you are what you say you are, and nothing more, then I have humbled myself in vain and loved you; the demon misled me as well as you.” This very probable story never happens – and why doesn't it?

380

Tested Advice. – Of all the means of consolation there is none so efficacious for him who has need of it as the declaration that in his case no consolation can be given. This implies such a distinction that the afflicted person will at once raise his head again.

381

Knowing one's “Individuality”. – We too often forget that in the eyes of strangers who see us for the first time we are quite different beings from what we consider ourselves to be – in most cases we exhibit nothing more than one particular characteristic which catches the eye of the stranger, and determines the impression we make on him. Thus the most peaceful and fair-minded man, if only he has a big moustache, may, as it were, repose in the shade of this moustache; for ordinary eyes will merely see in him the accessory of a big moustache, that is to say, a military, irascible, and occasionally violent character, and will act accordingly.

382

Gardeners and Gardens. – Wet dreary days, loneliness, and unkind words give rise within us to conclusions like fungi; some morning we find that they have grown up in front of us we know not whence, and there they scowl at us, sullen and morose. Woe to the thinker who instead of being the gardener of his plants, is merely the soil from which they spring.

383

The Comedy of Pity. – However much we may feel for an unhappy friend of ours, we always act with a certain amount of insincerity in his presence: we refrain from telling him everything we think, and how we think it, with all the circumspection of a doctor standing by the bedside of a patient who is seriously ill.

384

Curious Saints. – There are pusillanimous people who have a bad opinion of everything that is best in their works, and who at the same time interpret and comment upon them badly: but also, by a kind of revenge, they entertain a bad opinion of the sympathy of others, and do not believe in sympathy at all; they are ashamed to appear to be carried away from themselves, and feel a defiant comfort in appearing or becoming ridiculous. – States of soul like these are to be found in melancholy artists.

385

Vain People. – We are like shop-windows, where we ourselves are constantly arranging, concealing, or setting in the foreground those supposed qualities which others attribute to us – in order to deceive ourselves.

386

Pathetic and Naïve. – It may be a very vulgar habit to let no opportunity slip of assuming a pathetic air for the sake of the enjoyment to be experienced in imagining the spectator striking his breast and feeling himself to be small and miserable. Consequently it may also be the indication of a noble mind to make fun of pathetic situations, and to behave in an undignified manner in them. The old, warlike nobility of France possessed that kind of distinction and delicacy.

387

A Reflection before Marriage. – Supposing she loved me, what a burden she would be to me in the long run! and supposing that she did not love me, what a much greater burden she would be to me in the long run! We have to choose between two different kinds of burdens; therefore let us marry.

388

Rascality with a good Conscience. – It is exceedingly annoying to be cheated in small bargains in certain countries, – in the Tyrol, for example, – because, in addition to the bad bargain, we are compelled to accept the evil countenance and coarse greediness of the man who has cheated us, together with his bad conscience and his hostile feeling against us. At Venice, on the other hand, the cheater is highly delighted at his successful fraud, and is not in the least angry with the man he has cheated – nay, he is even inclined to show him some kindness, and above all to have a hearty laugh with him if he likes. – In short, one must possess wit and a good conscience in order to be a knave, and this will almost reconcile the cheated one with the cheat.[12 - The case of that other witty Venetian, Casanova. – Tr.]

389

Rather too Awkward. – Good people who are too awkward to be polite and amiable promptly endeavour to return an act of politeness by an important service, or by a contribution beyond their power. It is touching to see them timidly producing their gold coins when others have offered them their gilded coppers!

390

Hiding one's Intelligence. – When we surprise some one in the act of hiding his intelligence from us we call him evil: the more so if we suspect that it is his civility and benevolence which have induced him to do so.

391

The Evil Moment. – Lively dispositions only lie for a moment: after this they have deceived themselves, and are convinced and honest.

392

The Condition of Politeness. – Politeness is a very good thing, and really one of the four chief virtues (although the last), but in order that it may not result in our becoming tiresome to one another the person with whom I have to deal must be either one degree more or less polite than I – otherwise we should never get on, and the ointment would not only anoint us, but would cement us together.

393

Dangerous Virtues. – “He forgets nothing, but forgives everything” – wherefore he shall be doubly detested, for he causes us double shame by his memory and his magnanimity.

394

Without Vanity. – Passionate people think little of what others may think; their state of mind raises them above vanity.

395

Contemplation. – In some thinkers the contemplative state peculiar to a thinker is always the consequence of a state of fear, in others always of desire. In the former, contemplation thus seems allied to the feeling of security, in the latter to the feeling of surfeit – in other words, the former are spirited in their mood, the latter over-satiated and neutral.

396

Hunting. – The one is hunting for agreeable truths, the other for disagreeable ones. But even the former takes greater pleasure in the hunt than in the booty.

397

Education. – Education is a continuation of procreation, and very often a kind of supplementary varnishing of it.

398

How to recognise the Choleric. – Of two persons who are struggling together, or who love and admire one another, the more choleric will always be at a disadvantage. The same remark applies to two nations.

399

Self-Excuse. – Many men have the best possible right to act in this or that way; but as soon as they begin to excuse their actions we no longer believe that they are right – and we are mistaken.

400

Moral Pampering. – There are tender, moral natures who are ashamed of all their successes and feel remorse after every failure.

401

Dangerous Unlearning. – We begin by unlearning to love others, and end by finding nothing lovable in ourselves.