,,the ,,maxims ,,and ,,reflections      
,,of    ,,goethe      ,,translated ,,by 
,,bailey ,,saunders    ,,with ,a        
,,preface      ,,new ,,york    ,,the    
,,macmillan ,,company    #aijf          
,,contents    ,,translator',s ,,preface 
,,life ,,and ,,character  ,,literature  
,,and ,,art  ,,science  ,,nature3       
,,aphorisms  ,,index                    
,,translator',s ,,preface          ,i   
,the translation of ,goethe's ,prose    
,maxims now offered to the public is    
the first attempt that has yet been made
 to present the greater part of  these  
incomparable sayings in ,english4 ,in   
the complete collection they  are over a
 thousand in number1 and not more       
perhaps than a hundred and  fifty have  
already found their way into our        
language1 whether as  contributions to  
magazines here and in ,america1 or in   
volumes of  miscellaneous extract from  
,goethe's writings4 ,some are at times  
quoted  as though they were common      
literary property4 ,to say that they are

  important as a whole would be a feeble
 tribute to a work eloquent for  itself1
 and beyond the need of praise2 but so  
deep is the wisdom of  these maxims1 so 
wide their reach1 so compact a product  
are they of  ,goethe's wonderful genius1
 that it is something of a reproach to  
literature to find the most of them left
 untranslated for the sixty  years they 
have been before the world4 ,from one   
point of view1 the  neglect they have   
suffered is in no way surprising3 they  
are too high  and severe to be popular  
so soon2 and when they meet with a wide 
acceptance as with other great works1   
much of it will rest upon  authority4   
,but even for the deeper side of his    
writings1 ,goethe has not  been denied a
 fair measure of popular success4 ,no   
other author of the  last two centuries 
holds so high a place1 or1 as an        
inevitable  consequence1 has been       
attacked by so large an army of editors 
and  commentators2 and it might well be 
supposed by now that no corner of his   

work1 and least of all one of the best1 
had remained almost unnoticed1  and to  
the majority unknown4 ,many of these    
maxims were early translated  into      
,french1 but with little success2 and   
even in ,germany it was only so  late as
 the year #ahgj that they appeared in a 
separate form1 with the  addition of    
some sort of critical comment and a     
brief explanation of  their origin and  
history4#a    ,but although to what is  
called the reading public these maxims  
are as  yet1 no less in fact than in    
metaphor1 a closed book1 its pages have 
long been a source of profit and delight
 to some of those who are best  able to 
estimate their value4 ,what that value  
is1 ,i shall presently  endeavour to    
explain4 ,no one1 ,i think1 can perceive
 their worth without  also discerning   
how nearly they touch the needs of our  
own day1 and how  greatly they may help 
us in facing certain problems of life   
and conduct1  some of them1 in truth1 as
 old as the world itself1 which appear  

to us  now with peculiar force and      
subtlety4    ,it was in this respect    
that they were warmly recommended to me 
some  years ago by my excellent friend1 
,professor ,harnack1 the historian of   
,dogma1 a writer with a fine and prudent
 enthusiasm for all ennobling           
literature4 ,it is to him that ,i owe   
the resolve to perform for the  maxims1 
as far as ,i could1 the office of       
translator2 a humble office1  but not1  
as ,i have good reason to know1 without 
its difficulty1 or1 as ,i  venture to   
hope1 without its use4 ,of many of them 
the language is hardly  lucid even to a 
,german1 and ,i have gratefully to      
acknowledge the  assistance ,i have     
received from the privilege of          
discussing them with so  distinguished a
 man of letters4    ,to ,professor      
,huxley ,i am also deeply indebted4 ,i  
owe him much for  friendly              
encouragement1 and still more for help  
of an altogether  invaluable kind2 for  
in its measure of knowledge and skill1  

it is  admittedly beyond the power of   
any other living ,englishman4 ,the      
maxims  deal1 not alone with ,life and  
,character1 where most of them are      
admirable1 but also with certain aspects
 of ,science and ,art2 and these  are   
matters in which ,i could exercise no   
judgment myself1 although ,i  understood
 that1 while many of the maxims on      
,science and ,art were  attractive1 they
 were not all of great merit4 ,professor
 ,huxley not only  did me the honour to 
select the maxims on ,science1 but he   
was further  good enough to assist me   
with them1 and to read and approve the  
translation as it now stands4 ,the      
weight and the interest of his          
authority will thus give additional     
value to that section of the book1  and 
also do much to overcome the objections 
that exist to making a  selection at    
all4    ,for a selection is a necessary 
evil4 ,it is an evil because1 even if it
  leaves the best1 it takes away        
something of a man's work2 if it shows  

us  the heights he has reached1 it      
obliterates the steps of his ascent2 it 
endangers thoughts that may be important
 but imperfectly understood2 and  it    
hinders a fair and complete judgment4   
,but in the end it is a  necessity3 we  
are concerned chiefly with the best and 
clearest results1  and it is only the   
few who care to follow the elaborate    
details of  effort and progress1 often  
painful and obscure4 ,there is no author
 with  whom1 for most readers1 selection
 is so necessary as it is with ,goethe2 
and in no other kind of literature is it
 so amply justified or so  clearly      
desirable as where the aim is to state  
broad truths of life and  conduct and   
method in a manner admitting of no      
mistake or uncertainty4  ,when a writer 
attempts achievements1 as ,goethe did1  
in almost every  field of thought1 it   
need be no surprise to any one who has  
heard of  human fallibility that in     
solid results he is not equally         
successful  everywhere4 ,in deciding    

what shall be omitted1 there is no      
difficulty  with maxims which time has  
shown to be wrong or defective2 they    
have  only an historical interest4 ,but 
great care is necessary with others     
that are tentative1 questionable1 or    
obscure enough to need the light of  a  
commentary1 sometimes dubious2 where for
 most of us there is never  much profit 
and always occasion for stumbling4 ,i   
count it a singular  piece of good      
fortune that the choice of the          
scientific maxims should be  undertaken 
by so eminent a judge of their practical
 value1 who is also a  scholar in the   
language and a great admirer of ,goethe 
in his other and  better known          
productions4 ,for if a writer of this   
immense versatility  cannot always hope 
to touch the highest goal1 it is well   
that all his  efforts should be weighed 
in a later day by the best and          
friendliest  knowledge4    ,the maxims  
on ,art were at first a matter of some  
little difficulty4 ,it  is plain1 ,i    

think1 that they are below the others in
 value and interest2  and in any        
collection of sayings the less there is 
of general worth1 the  more delicate    
becomes the task of choosing the best4  
,if ,i omitted them  all1 the selection 
would not be duly representative1 and it
 seemed  likely that some at least were 
worthy of being preserved1 if only to   
illustrate ,goethe's theories4 ,i       
therefore sought the best advice2 and   
here again ,i have to tender my thanks  
for assistance second to none in  skill 
and authority1--that of ,sir ,frederick 
,leighton1 kindly given under           
circumstances which much increase my    
obligation4 ,for it is my duty to  say  
that ,sir ,frederick ,leighton had no   
desire1 but rather reluctance1 to  make 
a selection from maxims on ,art which he
 was often not prepared to  endorse1 or 
to regard as in any way commensurate    
with ,goethe's genius2  and nevertheless
 he did me the honour to point out a few
 which ,i might  insert1 as being of    

interest partly for their own sake1     
partly also for  the name of their      
author4    ,the maxims on ,science and  
,art are1 however1 when taken together1 
hardly  a fifth of this volume4 ,the    
others ,i have selected on the simple   
and ,i  hope blameless principle of     
omitting only what is clearly           
unimportant1  antiquated1 of past or    
passing interest1 of purely personal    
reference1  or of a nature too abstruse 
to stand without notes of explanation1  
which  ,i should be sorry to place at   
the foot of any of these pages4 ,i have 
also omitted eleven maxims drawn from   
,hippocrates ,on ,diet2 fifteen         
containing an appreciation of ,sterne1  
together with some twenty more  which   
,goethe himself translated from a       
curious work wrongly attributed  to that
 writer4 ,it will be convenient if ,i   
state that ,i have thus  omitted some   
hundred and twenty out of the six       
hundred and fifty-five  which make up   
the section styled in the original      

,ethisches1 which ,i  translate by ,life
 and ,character1 the section which also 
contains the  maxims on ,literature1 now
 collected and placed in a separate     
section  with those on ,art4 ,sir       
,frederick ,leighton chose thirty-five  
out of a  hundred and eighteen on ,art1 
and ,professor ,huxley seventy-six out  
of two  hundred and eighty on ,science4 
,,ii      ,having thus acknowledged but 
in no way discharged a triple debt of   
gratitude1 it will be next in order if  
,i briefly state the history of  the    
work which now appears in an ,english   
dress1 before attempting to  speak of   
its nature and value4    ,the           
publication of the maxims belongs to the
 later1 that is to say1 the  last       
thirty1 years of ,goethe's life2 and the
 greater number of them  appeared only  
in the last ten1 while some are         
posthumous4    ,it is impossible to say 
with certainty at what period he began  
the  observations which were afterwards 
to come before the world in this  shape2

 nor is the question of any real        
interest except to pedantic  students of
 such matters4 ,it is probable that1    
like most writers1 ,goethe  was in the  
habit of noting transient thoughts of   
his own1 as well as  opinions of others 
that suggested more than they actually  
conveyed2 and  of preserving for further
 use what he had thus1 in his own words1
  written himself and appropriated from 
elsewhere--,eigenes and  ,angeeignetes4 
,the maxims grew out of a collection of 
this character4 ,it  was a habit formed 
probably in early life1 for somewhere in
 the  ,lehrjahre--a work of eighteen    
years' duration1 but begun at the age of
  twenty-seven--he makes ,wilhelm       
,meister speak of the value of it4 ,but 
there are reasons for thinking that most
 of the maxims1 as they now  stand1 were
 not alone published but also composed  
in his last years4 ,the  unity of       
meaning which stamps them with a common 
aim2 the similarity of  the calm1       
dispassionate language in which they are

 written2 the didactic  tone that       
colours them throughout1 combine to show
 that they are among  the last and      
ripest fruits of his genius4 ,some were 
certainly composed  between the ages of 
fifty and sixty2 more still between that
 and  seventy2 while there is evidence1 
both internal and external1 proving     
that many and perhaps most of them were 
his final reflections on life  and the  
world4 ,this it is that adds so much to 
their interest for as he  himself finely
 says in one of the last of them1 in a  
tranquil mind  thoughts rise up at the  
close of life hitherto unthinkable2 like
 blessed  inward voices alighting in    
glory on the summits of the past4       
,but whenever all or any of them were   
written1 and whatever revision they  may
 have undergone1 none were published    
until #ahji1 when ,goethe was  sixty    
years of age4 ,it was then that he      
brought out ,die  ,wahlverwandschaften4 
,a few of the maxims on ,life and       
,character were  there inserted as      

forming two extracts from a journal     
often quoted in  the earlier part of the
 story4 ,about this time1 writes        
,goethe1 as he  introduces the first of 
these extracts1 outward events are      
seldomer  noted in ,ottilie's diary1    
whilst maxims and sentences on life in  
general1 and drawn from it1 become more 
frequent4 ,but1 he adds1 as  most of    
them can hardly be due to her own       
reflections1 it is likely that  some one
 had given her a book or paper1 from    
which she wrote out  anything that      
pleased her4 ,a few more maxims appeared
 eight years later  in ,kunst and       
,alterthum1 a magazine founded by       
,goethe in #ahaf and  devoted to the    
discussion of artistic questions2 and a 
larger number  first saw the light in   
the same publication at various dates   
until its  extinction in #ahbh4 ,some of
 the observations on ,science had       
meanwhile  been incorporated with two   
treatises on branches of that subject4  
,eckermann tells a curious story of the 

way in which ,goethe then  continued the
 publication of the maxims4 ,wilhelm    
,meisters ,wanderjahre  had appeared in 
its first form in #ahba4 ,afterwards1 in
 #ahbi1 ,goethe  decided to remodel and 
lengthen it1 and to make two volumes out
 of what  had originally been only one4 
,his secretary was employed to copy it  
out  in its revised form4 ,he wrote in a
 large hand1 which gave the impression  
that the story might well fill even     
three volumes2 and directions to  this  
effect were sent to the publisher4 ,but 
it was soon discovered that  the last   
two volumes would be very thin1 and the 
publisher asked for  more manuscript4   
,goethe1 in some perplexity1 sent for   
,eckermann1 and  producing two large    
bundles of unpublished papers1          
containing1 as he  said1 some very      
important things1--opinions on life1    
literature1  science and art1 all       
mingled together1 proposed to him to    
lengthen out  the volumes by inserting  
selections from them4 ,you might1 he    

suggested1 fill the gaps in the         
,wanderjahre by making up some six or   
eight sheets from these detached pieces4
 ,strictly speaking1 they have  nothing 
to do with the story2 but we may justify
 the proceeding by the  fact that ,i    
mention an archive in ,makarie's house1 
in which such  miscellanies are         
preserved4 ,in this way we shall not    
only get over our  difficulty1 but find 
a good vehicle for giving much          
interesting matter  to the world4       
,eckermann approved the plan1 and       
divided his selection  into two parts2  
and when the new edition of the         
,wanderjahre appeared1  one of them was 
styled ,aus ,makariens ,archiv1 and the 
other  ,betrachtungen im ,sinne der     
,wanderer3 ,kunst1 ,ethisches1 ,natur4  
,the  remainder of the unpublished      
maxims appeared posthumously1 either in 
the  ,nachgelassene ,werke in #ahcc1 or 
in the quarto edition of #ahcf4         
,instructions had been given to         
,eckermann to collect all the maxims1   

arrange them under different heads1 and 
include them in appropriate  volumes2   
but he resolved to deviate from his     
instructions to the extent  of          
publishing them all together2 and the   
alteration is certainly an  advantage4  
,a slight re-arrangement was made by von
 ,loeper1 who was  deterred from        
undertaking a more radical one1 although
 he thought it  might be done with      
profit1 by the consideration that when a
 literary  work of undesigned and       
fortuitous form has lived any number of 
years in  a certain shape1 that fact    
alone is a weighty argument against any 
change in it4 ,in a translation1        
perhaps1 where the work is presented    
anew and to a fresh public1 the change  
might be allowable2 and ,i should  have 
undertaken it1 had there not been a more
 serious reason1 which von  ,loeper also
 urges1 against any attempt at          
systematic re-arrangement3 the  further 
fact1 namely1 that many of the maxims   
have a mixed character1  placing them   

above our distinctions of scientific and
 ethical1 and  making it difficult to   
decide under which heading they ought to
 fall4 ,i  have1 therefore1 generally   
followed the traditional order2 with    
this  exception1 that1 for obvious      
reasons1 the maxims dealing with        
,literature  are here placed together2  
and as only a few of those on ,art      
appear in  these pages1 ,i have included
 them in the same section4 ,in one or   
two  cases ,i have united closely       
connected maxims which are separated in 
the  original2 and1 for the sake of a   
short title1 ,i have slightly narrowed  
the meaning of the word ,spruch1 which  
applies to any kind of shrewd  saying1  
whether it be strictly a maxim or an    
aphorism4 ,some little  liberties of    
this kind may1 ,i think1 be taken by a  
translator anxious to  put the work     
before his own public in an orderly and 
convenient form4    ,the last section in
 this book requires a word of           
explanation4 ,it is a  little essay on  

,nature which is to be found with a     
variety of other  fragments in the last 
volume of ,goethe's collected works4    
,too short to  stand by itself1 if it   
appears at all1 it must be in company   
with  kindred matter2 and as a series of
 aphorisms1 presenting a poetic view  of
 ,nature unsurpassed in its union of    
beauty and insight1 it is no            
inappropriate appendage to the maxims on
 ,science4 ,it is little known1  and it 
deserves to be widely known4 ,i venture 
to think that even in  ,germany the     
ordinary reader is unaware of its       
existence4 ,for us in  ,england it was1 
so to speak1 discovered by ,professor   
,huxley1 who many  years ago gave a     
translation of it as a proem to a       
scientific  periodical4 ,perhaps that   
proem may yet be recovered as good      
salvage from  the waters of oblivion1   
which sooner or later overwhelm all     
magazines4  ,meanwhile ,i put forward   
this version4    ,for sixty years this  
essay has stood unquestioned in         

,goethe's works2 but  doubt has recently
 been cast on its authorship4 ,the      
account hitherto  given rests upon the  
excellent ground of ,goethe's own       
declaration4 ,the  essay1 it appears1   
was written about the year #aghj1 and   
offered to the  ,duchess ,amalia4 ,some 
time after her death it was found       
amongst her  papers1 and sent to ,goethe
 in ,may1 #ahbh1 when1 as he wrote to   
his friend  the ,chancellor von ,mller1 
he could not remember having composed   
it2  although he recognised the writing 
as that of a person of whose services   
he used to avail himself some forty     
years previously4 ,that at so great a   
distance of time a prolific author could
 not recall the composition of  so short
 a piece is not1 indeed1 improbable2 but
 ,goethe proceeded to say  that it      
agreed very well with the pantheistic   
ideas which occupied him  at the age of 
thirty1 and that his insight then might 
be called a  comparative1 which was thus
 forced to express its strife towards an

 as  yet unattained superlative4        
,notwithstanding this declaration1 the  
essay  is now claimed as the production 
of a certain ,swiss friend of ,goethe's1
  by name ,tobler1 on external evidence 
which need not be examined here1  and on
 the internal evidence afforded by the  
style1 which is certainly  more pointed 
and antithetic than is usual with       
,goethe4 ,but a master of  language who 
attempted every kind of composition may 
well have attempted  this2 and even     
those who credit an otherwise unknown   
person with the  actual writing of the  
essay candidly admit that it is based   
upon  conversations with ,goethe4 ,it is
 so clearly inspired with his genius    
that he can hardly be forced to yield   
the credit of it to another4            
,,iii      ,it is no wish or business of
 mine to introduce these maxims by      
adding  one more to the innumerable     
essays1 some of them admirable1 which   
have  been written on ,goethe4 ,i have  
found the translation of one of his     

works  a harder and certainly a more    
profitable task than a general discourse
  on them all2 and ,i profoundly believe
 that1 rather than read what has  been  
written on ,goethe1 it is very much     
better to read ,goethe himself4  ,it is 
in this belief that ,i hope the present 
translation may help in a  small way to 
increase the direct knowledge of him in 
this country4 ,but  there are some      
remarks which ,i may be allowed to make 
on the nature and  use of maxims1 and   
the peculiar value of those of ,goethe2 
so far1 at  least1 as they deal with    
life and character and with literature4 
,if  ,professor ,huxley could be induced
 to publish the comments which he made  
to me as ,i read him the scientific     
maxims1 besides being the best of       
introductions to that section of the    
book1 they would form a keen and  clear 
review of ,goethe's scientific          
achievements1 and an emphatic  testimony
 to his wonderful anticipations of later
 theories4    ,between a maxim1 an      

aphorism1 and an apophthegm1 and in a   
more obvious  degree1 between these and 
an adage and a proverb1 the etymologist 
and  the lexicographer may easily find a
 distinction4 ,but they are1 one and    
all1 fragments of the wisdom of life1   
treasured up in short1 pithy  sentences 
that state or define some general truth 
of experience2 and  perhaps with an     
adage and a maxim1 enjoin its practice  
as a matter of  conduct4 ,in the        
literature of every age there have been 
writers who1  instead of following a    
less severe method1 thus briefly record 
the  lessons taught them by a wide view 
of the doings of men2 from the dim1     
far-off beginnings of ,ptah ,hotep the  
,egyptian to the authors of the         
,proverbs of ,solomon and the ,book of  
,wisdom1 from ,theognis and ,plutarch   
downwards to our own time4 ,they give us
 the shrewdest of their thoughts1       
detached from the facts which gave them 
birth4 ,but the professed writers  of   
maxims are not the only or always the   

best authors of them4 ,there is  no     
great writer who is not rich in wise    
sentences2 where we have the  advantage 
of seeing for ourselves the train of    
thought that induced and  the occasion  
that called them forth4 ,terse and      
pregnant sayings are  scattered         
innumerably through the pages of the    
finest poets1 the great  orators1       
philosophers1 and historians1 wherever  
they touch the highest  level of truth  
and insight2 be it in the lofty         
interpretation of life1  the defence of 
action or policy1 the analysis of       
character and conduct1  or the record of
 progress2 and then it is that large    
ideas and wide  observations take on    
imperceptibly the nature of maxim or    
aphorism1  illumining1 like points of   
light1 whole fields of thought and      
experience4 ,and the test of their value
 is that they lose little or  nothing by
 being deprived of their particular     
context and presented as  truths of     
general import4 ,a collection of        

proverbs1 shrewd sayings1 and  pointed  
expressions1 taken from the whole range 
of ,greek and ,latin  literature1 was   
made by the industry of ,erasmus in his 
great folio of  ,adagia2 and perhaps    
some future student1 as diligent as he1 
may gather  up the aphoristic wisdom in 
the writings of modern times4 ,goethe   
himself  has in all his great works a   
wealth of aphorism unsurpassed by any   
other  writer whatever1 even though it  
be ,montaigne or ,bacon or ,shakespeare2
  and sayings of his not to be found in 
this collection are some of the  best   
that he uttered4    ,the besetting sin  
of the maxim-writer is to exaggerate one
 side of a  matter by neglecting        
another2 to secure point and emphasis of
 style1 by  limiting the range of       
thought2 and hence it is that most      
maxims present  but a portion of truth  
and cannot be received unqualified4     
,they must  often be brought back to the
 test of life itself1 and confronted and
  compared with other sides of the      

experience they profess to embody4 ,and 
when a maxim stands this trial and      
proves its worth1 it is not every one   
to whom it is of value4 ,to some it may 
be a positive evil4 ,it makes the       
strongest appeal to those who never see 
more than one aspect of  anything1      
hardening their hearts and blunting     
their minds2 and even to  those who     
could make a good use of it1 there are  
times when it may  mislead and be       
dangerous4 ,maxims in their application 
seem to need  something of the          
physician's art3 they must be handled   
with care1 and  applied with discretion4
 ,like powerful drugs they may act with 
beneficent effect on a hardy            
constitution2 they may brace it to      
effort1  or calm the fever of a         
misguided activity2 but great is the    
mischief  they work where the mind is   
weak or disorganised4 ,as a medicine may
 save  a man at one time that would kill
 him at another1 so the wise counsel of 
to-day may easily become the poisonous  

suggestion of to-morrow4    ,with       
writers who depend for effect on mere   
qualities of style and ignore  the      
weightier matters of depth and truth of 
observation1 ,goethe has  nothing in    
common2 nor with those who vainly       
imagine that insight is a  kind of art1 
with a method that may be learned and   
applied4 ,by constant  practice a man of
 literary talent may1 it is true1 attain
 a fair mastery  of language terse and  
attractive1 and then set himself1 if he 
will1 to  the deliberate creation of    
aphoristic wisdom or a philosophy of    
proverbs2 mistaking the dexterous       
handling of a commonplace for the true  
process of discovery4 ,the popular      
literature of the last generation       
supplies a terrible instance of the     
length to which the manufacture of      
maxims can thus be carried1 for a time  
with immense success2 and we have  seen 
how a few years suffice to carry them   
and their author to  obscurity4 ,how    
different is the true process6 ,the     

maxim that increases  knowledge and     
enriches literature is of slow and rare 
appearance2 it  springs from a fine     
faculty of observation which is in no   
one's  arbitrament1 and only less rare  
than the gift of utterance which adds   
charm to a thought that itself strikes  
home with the power of  impregnable     
truth4 ,no amount or intensity of effort
 will alone produce  it2 but to the mind
 of genius it comes like a sudden       
revelation1  flashing its light on a    
long course of patient attention4 ,what 
we call  ,discovery1 says ,goethe1 is   
the serious exercise and activity of an 
original feeling for truth4 ,it is a    
synthesis of world and mind1 giving  the
 most blessed assurance of the eternal  
harmony of things4    ,it is1 then1     
depth and truth and sanity of           
observation which chiefly  mark these   
sayings of ,goethe4 ,it is no concern of
 his to dazzle the mind  by the         
brilliance of his wit2 nor does he      
labour to say things because  they are  

striking1 but only because they are     
true4 ,he is always in  contact with    
realities1 always aiming at truth2 and  
he takes a kindly  and a generous view  
of the world4 ,he has none of the       
despair that  depresses1 none of the    
malice that destroys4 ,there are writers
 who  profess to honour a lofty ideal by
 a cynical disparagement of everything  
that falls short of it2 who unveil the  
selfish recesses of the heart as  a     
mistaken stimulus to its virtues2 who   
pay their tribute to great work  by     
belittling human endeavour4 ,goethe     
shows us a more excellent way4  ,touched
 with a profound feeling of the worth of
 life1 the wisdom of  order1 the        
nobility of effort1 he gives us an ideal
 to pursue and shows  us the means of   
pursuing it4 ,out of the fulness of a   
large experience1  unique in the history
 of literature1 he unfolds the scheme of
 a  practicable perfection1 and enforces
 the lessons he has learned from the    
steady1 passionless1 and undaunted      

observation of human affairs4    ,to    
,goethe these sayings were merely       
reflections or opinions2 it is  his     
literary executors and his editors who  
called them by more ambitious  titles1  
so as to challenge a comparison with    
certain other famous books  of wise     
thought4 ,they are the reflections of a 
long life rich in all the  intellectual 
treasures of the world1 in its          
versatility amazing1 in its  insight    
well-nigh fathomless2 a life that1 in   
his own words1 approached  the infinite 
by following the finite on every side4  
,such a man need only  speak to utter   
something important2 and we on our part 
need only  remember how wide was the    
range of his knowledge1 how full and    
complete  his existence1 to set the     
utmost value on his reflections at the  
end of  it4 ,but that he knew nothing of
 the pinch of poverty and was spared the
  horrors of disease1 that he suffered  
no great misfortune1 and basked in  the 
bright side of the world1 free from the 

ills that come to most men1  there was  
no page of the book of life that was not
 thrown open to him4  ,the things of the
 mind1 the things of art1 the things of 
nature--in  their theory and in their   
practice he had worked at them all2     
regarding  them as so many varied       
manifestations of an eternal ,idea in   
itself  inscrutable and here            
unattainable4 ,there was no kind of     
literature with  which he was           
unfamiliar1 whether it was ancient or   
modern1 of the ,east  or of the ,west2  
and the great spiritual influences of   
the world1  ,hebraism1 ,hellenism1      
,christianity1 ,medivalism1--at one or  
another time  in his life he was in     
touch with them all1 and found his      
account in them  all4 ,in matters of    
learning he was occupied with nothing   
but what was  actual and concrete2 it   
was only to abstract studies1 to logic1 
metaphysics1 mathematics1 that he was   
indifferent2 in his own phrase1 he      
never thought about thinking4 ,there was

 hardly any branch of the natural       
science of his day that he did not      
cultivate1 that he did not himself      
practise2 geology1 mineralogy1 botany1  
zoology1 anatomy1 meteorology1  optics2 
and he made some remarkable discoveries 
and the strangest  prophecies4 ,to ,art 
he gave a life-long devotion4 ,while    
still a youth1 he  wrote an important   
essay on ,gothic architecture2 he       
engraved1 drew1  painted1 and for a time
 took up sculpture4 ,in all the higher  
forms of  ,art1 with the single         
exception of music1 he had so much      
practical  interest that he often       
doubted whether in following ,literature
 he had  not mistaken1 or at least      
unduly narrowed1 the sphere of his      
activity4  ,he was little abroad1 but no
 one ever profited more by his travels  
than  ,goethe4 ,twice he went to ,italy1
 and what a change of mind was produced 
by that change of sky6 ,rome was to him 
a new birth1 a new conception of  life4 
,and besides ,literature1 ,science1 and 

,art1 he busied himself with            
,administration1 with the duties of the 
,court1 with the practical details  of  
the ,theatre2 but out of them all he    
learned something himself and  taught   
something to others4 ,he lived the      
fullest life granted to man4 ,he  had a 
youth of the wildest enthusiasm and     
romance2 a prime of a classic           
austerity1 of a calm earnestness2 a     
majestic age of the ripest wisdom1  when
 there came to him1 as it were a second 
youth1 with something of the  fire of   
the old romantic feeling lighted up in  
him anew4 ,and out of all  these        
prodigious efforts in so many           
directions1 he passed unharmed1 and     
never lost himself4 ,he steadily pursued
 his own task and refused to be  drawn  
aside4 ,he stood aloof from the         
controversies of his time4 ,the  battles
 of belief1 philosophical systems1      
,french ,revolutions1 ,wars of          
,liberation1 struggles of democracy and 
nationality1--these things  moved him   

little or not at all4 ,but he is not on 
that account to be  held1 as some       
foolish critics have held him1          
indifferent1 selfish1 or  less serious1 
or less complete a man than his fellows4
 ,he did the best  in any one's power3  
he resolutely kept to his own business1 
and1 neither  heating nor resting1      
worked at his own high aims1 in the     
struggle not  merely to learn and to    
know1 but to act and to do4 ,he felt    
profoundly  that the best anyone can    
achieve for himself is often the best he
 can  achieve for others4 ,the whole    
moral of ,wilhelm ,meister is that a    
man's  first and greatest duty1 whether 
to others or to himself1 is to see that 
his business in life is a worthy one and
 suited to his capacities4 ,if he       
discovers his vocation and pursues it   
steadily1 he will make his outer  life  
of the greatest use and service to the  
world1 and at the same time  produce the
 utmost harmony within4 ,that was what  
,goethe tried to do in  his own person1 

and he laboured at his self-imposed task
 with a  perseverance1 a real           
unselfishness1 and a determination      
entirely  admirable4    ,it is almost   
the last fruit of this life of          
concentrated activity1 the  final       
outcome of this indomitable character1  
that is here put before us4  ,and we    
shall find that to the complex phenomena
 of the world ,goethe  applied no other 
measure but reason and the nature and   
needs of man4  ,with a full             
consciousness of the mysteries that     
surround our existence1  he never made  
the futile endeavour to pass beyond the 
bounds of present  knowledge and        
experience1 or to resolve contradictions
 by manipulating  the facts4 ,in these  
detached reflections he does1 indeed1   
propound a  theory and sketch out a     
system of conduct2 but they cannot1 like
 the  ,thoughts of ,pascal1 for         
instance1 be brought under a single and 
definite point of view4 ,they are a     
mirror of life itself1 and the inner    

and outer facts of life in all their    
diversity4 ,the unity they possess  is  
the unity that is stamped upon them by  
the all-embracing personality  of their 
author1 always and unweariedly striving 
to make his life  systematic1 distinct1 
and fruitful2 and to judge them as a    
whole1 a man  must be able to fathom so 
great a genius4 ,but to every one in    
every walk  of life ,goethe has a word  
of wise counsel1 as though he understood
 every  form of existence and could     
enter into its needs4 ,in a fine passage
 in  the ,wanderjahre1 he likens the    
thought that thus in wondrous fashion   
takes a thousand particular shapes1 to a
 mass of quicksilver1 which1 as  it     
falls1 separates into innumerable       
globules1 spreading out on all  sides4  
,and while these sayings may present    
thoughts in seeming  contradiction one  
with another1 as the moment that called 
them forth  presented this or that side 
of experience1 their inmost nature is a 
common tendency to realise a great ideal

 of life4 ,it is little they owe  to the
 form in which they are cast2 they are  
not the elements of an  artistic whole  
which must be seized before we can      
understand the full  meaning of its     
parts4 ,they are a miscellaneous record 
of the shrewdest  observation2 and to   
read them as they should be read1 a few 
at a time1  is like the opportunity of  
repeated converse with a man of         
extraordinary  gifts1 great insight1 and
 the widest culture1 who touches        
profoundly and  suggestively now on     
this1 now on that aspect of life and the
 world and  the progress of knowledge4  
,it is the fruit of his own experience  
that  ,goethe gives us2 and we shall do 
well to think of it as he himself       
thought of another book1 and to bear in 
mind that every word which we  take in a
 general sense and apply to ourselves1  
had1 under certain  circumstances of    
time and place1 a peculiar1 special and 
directly  individual reference4         
,goethe is no exception to the rest of  

mankind in not being equally wise  at   
all times1 and in the maxims there are  
degrees of value3 they do not  all shine
 with the like brilliance4 ,some of them
 are valuable only for  what they       
suggest2 of some1 again1 it is easy to  
see that1 they appear  as matters of    
speculation rather than as certainties4 
,they raise  difficulties1 ask for      
criticism1 if possible1 correction2 or1 
it may be1  they call attention to the  
contrary view and invite a harmony of   
opposites4 ,some of them make a great   
demand upon our ability to  understand a
 proverb and the interpretation2 the    
words of the wise and  their dark       
sayings4 ,their value sometimes depends 
on the way they are  viewed1 the culture
 brought to their understanding1 the    
temper in which  they are approached4   
,we look at them1 and at first admire2  
we change our  point of view1 and find  
something to criticise and dispute4 ,the
  obscurity of maxims1 as ,goethe       
reminds us1 is only relative2 not       

everything can be explained to the      
reader which was present to the mind  of
 the writer4 ,some of them seem at first
 to be of little interest2 on  one side 
they may even repel1 but from another   
they attract again1 and  win perhaps a  
partial approval4 ,they seem to move as 
we change our  position1 and to be      
without fixed or certain character4 ,but
 some1 again1  are so clear and         
unmistakable1 so immeasurably above     
criticism or  objection1 that like the  
furthest of the stars they have no      
parallax3  whatever position we take1   
their light is steadfast4    ,let no one
 suppose that in the main ,goethe's     
reflections on life had  never been made
 before2 that it was not so1 no one knew
 better than he4  ,as a preface and note
 of warning to them all1 he reiterates  
the words of  the preacher3 there is no 
new thing under the sun4 ,yes6 says     
,goethe1  there is nothing worth        
thinking but it has been thought before2
 we must  only try to think it again4   

,it is only when we are faithful1 he    
says  elsewhere1#b in arresting and     
noting our present thoughts1 that we    
have any joy in tradition2 since we find
 the best thoughts already  uttered1 the
 finest feelings already expressed4     
,this it is that gives us  the          
perception of that harmonious agreement 
to which man is called1 and  to which he
 must conform1 often against his will as
 he is much too fond  of fancying that  
the world begins afresh with himself4   
,what ,goethe  means is that we shall do
 best to find out the truth of all      
things for  ourselves1 for on one side  
truth is individual2 and that we shall  
be  happy if our individual truth is    
also universal1 or accords with the     
wisest thought of the past4 ,it is in   
this practical light that we must  view 
the maxims1 and not as mere academic    
generalities4 ,it is easy to  read them 
in an hour and forget them as soon2 easy
 to view them with a  tepid interest as 
the work of a great author2 but no one  

will fully  understand the value of any 
of them1 who has not experience enough  
to  know its truth4 ,well is it for us  
if with the experience we also gain  the
 truth6 ,if any one should say that some
 of these maxims are very  obvious1 and 
so simply true as almost to be          
platitudes1 ,i would bid him  remember  
that the best education is often to     
discover these very simple  truths for  
oneself1 and learn to see how much there
 is in commonplaces4  ,for those who    
have grown old in the world are never   
weary of telling us  that the further we
 go1 the more we shall find1 in general1
 that the  same things will happen to us
 as have happened to others2 and it will
  then be our advantage if we have the  
same reflections1 best of all if we     
come of ourselves to the same           
conclusions1 as the wisest of those who 
have gone before us2 next best1 if we   
can really and intelligently  follow in 
the footsteps of their thought4    ,but 
although the matter of ,goethe's sayings

 is not original in the sense  of being 
new to the world--while it was original 
for him1 since he  discovered it for    
himself and on his own path1 their      
manner is something  new1 and their     
range is unparalleled4 ,take any other  
set of maxims you  will1 nowhere is     
there so wide an outlook1 nowhere so    
just an estimate  of human difficulties1
 nowhere an aim at once so lofty and so 
practicable4 ,nowhere is there a larger1
 stronger1 healthier1 more  tolerant    
view of life and the world1 or an       
atmosphere clearer of the  mists that   
too often obscure and distort our       
vision4 ,and in their  expression1      
nowhere is there so little of the       
besetting sin to sacrifice  truth to    
effect4 ,goethe has none of the shallow 
malice and uncharitable  candour that   
with writers of an earlier age passed   
for the practical  wisdom of every day2 
and we need only contrast his maxims    
with the  similar work of ,la           
,rochefoucauld1 ,helvetius1 and         

,chamfort1 admirable as  they may be in 
their exposure of human selfishness1 to 
determine on  which side is the greater 
service to mankind4 ,how different the  
views of  the world taken by how many   
writers6--the secret of it all is that  
the  men themselves are different4      
,it was said of ,goethe that his heart1 
which few knew1 was as great as  his    
intellect1 which all knew4 ,certainly   
his writings and not least his  maxims  
are a profound example of the truth that
 in the last resort it is  moral rather 
than intellectual qualities that make   
great literature4 ,it  is not to be     
denied that much may be done by a mere  
facility of style1 a  command of words1 
a fine taste1 a wide acquaintance with  
the turns and  resources of language2   
but in the end the effect is produced by
 the man  himself1 his character and his
 strength4 ,to the strenuous1 earnest   
man1  like ,goethe1 the world offers a  
stirring spectacle and provides a great 
opportunity2 and he grasps and uses them

 both to the best of his  peculiar      
capacity4 ,it is diversity of           
temperament dealing with partial        
knowledge that makes so many and such   
various doctrines4 ,a man's views  of   
life are1 in short1 those which he      
deserves to have1 and his writings  are 
cast in the mould of his character4 ,it 
is no more strange that the  authors of 
books should give us such varied        
pictures of the humanity  around us1    
than that painters should conceive      
natural objects so  differently4        
,literature1 too1 is like a gallery of  
landscape and  portrait3 it is the same 
world which is presented1 the same men  
and  things2 but the way of looking at  
it varies with the artist2 who1         
whatever his training may have been1    
will see in ,nature what he brings  to  
it himself4 ,ars est homo additus natur4
 ,if this be truly to define  the       
essence and method of ,art1 it is       
equally true to say that ,literature  is
 man added to life2 and1 here as there1 

everything depends on the  character and
 capacity of the man4    ,no one has as 
yet said that he doubts ,goethe's       
capacity1 although there  are many who  
have solemnly pronounced him            
uninteresting4 ,the critic who  can read
 ,goethe's works with real attention1   
and then venture to call  them dull1 is 
simply showing that he has no call to   
the office he  assumes1 or no interest  
in literature of the highest class4     
,what is  true1 of course1 is that      
,goethe is profoundly serious1 and he   
is1  therefore1 not always entertaining2
 but that is enough to make him pass    
for dull in the eyes of those who take  
literature only as a pastime1--a        
substitute for a cigar1 or something to 
lull them to sleep when they are  tired4
 ,but another and more formidable       
accusation is made against ,goethe      
which affects his character1 and would  
go far to destroy the value of  his     
writings if it were true2 but to many it
 is curiously inconsistent  with the    

other charge of being dull4 ,it is that 
he is immoral4 ,now of  all the great   
writers of the world1 ,goethe is        
admittedly the greatest  teacher4 ,he is
 essentially and frankly didactic2 and  
nowhere is there so  large and worthy a 
body of literature from a single pen    
which is  informed with so high and so  
serious a purpose4 ,roundly to call its 
author immoral is a charge which        
sufficiently refutes itself by its own  
ignorance and absurdity4 ,the charge    
comes1 as a rule1 from those who  judge 
life by the needs and duties of a young 
girl1 and they confound  the whole of   
morality--character and conduct in all  
relations to one's  fellow-men--with one
 section of it4 ,they forget that       
,goethe was a man of  the old rgime2    
that his faults were those of his time  
and class4 ,they  forget that an extreme
 repugnance to all monasticism1         
asceticism1 and  ,roman ,catholicism in 
general1 naturally led him to pay a     
diminished  regard to the one virtue of 

which the ,christian world is sometimes 
apt  to exaggerate the importance1 and  
on which it is often ready to hang all  
the law and the prophets4 ,to some1     
again1 ,goethe appears to be a          
supremely selfish wizard1 dissecting    
human passion in the coldest blood1  and
 making poetical capital out of the     
emotional tortures he caused in  others4
 ,this1 too1 is a charge which the      
merest acquaintance with his  life and  
work must of necessity refute3 it is too
 simple a slander to be  seriously      
discussed4 ,since these are charges     
which have1 however1 kept  many         
estimable people from reading ,goethe1  
it may be some consolation to  them to  
know that the maxims are entirely free  
from any possibility of  objection on   
this ground4    ,the element of moral   
teaching which runs through ,goethe's   
mature works  like a golden thread1     
re-appears in the maxims free and       
detached from  the poetic and romantic  
environment which in such varied shapes 

is woven  around it in ,werther1 ,tasso1
 ,meister1 above all in ,faust4 ,to do  
the  next duty2 to meet the claims of   
each day2 to persist with a single mind 
and unwearied effort on a definite1     
positive1 productive path2  cheerfully  
to renounce what is denied us1 and      
vigorously to make the  best of what we 
have2 to restrain vague desires and     
uncertain aims2 to  cease bewailing the 
vanity of all things and the fleeting   
nature of this  our world1 and do what  
we can to make our stay in it of lasting
  use1--these are lessons which will    
always be needed1 and all the more      
needed as life becomes increasingly     
complex4 ,they are taught in the  maxims
 with a great variety of application1   
and nowhere so concisely  summarised as 
in one of them4 ,the mind endowed with  
active powers1 so  it runs1 and keeping 
with a practical object to the task that
 lies  nearest1 is the worthiest there  
is on earth4    ,goethe has been called1
 and with truth1 the prophet of culture2

 but the  word is often misunderstood4  
,we cannot too clearly see that what is 
here  meant is not a mere range of      
intellectual knowledge1 pursued with    
idolatrous devotion3 it is moral        
discipline1 a practical endeavour1      
forming wise thought and noble          
character4 ,and this is the product1 not
  of learning1 but of work3 if we are to
 know and realise what there is in  us1 
and make the best of it1 our aim must be
 practical and creative4  ,let every    
man1 he urges1 ask himself with which of
 his faculties he  can and will somehow 
influence his age4 ,and again3 ,from    
this time  forward1 if a man does not   
apply himself to some art or handiwork1 
he  will be in a bad way4 ,in the rapid 
changes of the world1 knowledge is no   
longer a furtherance4 ,by the time a man
 has taken note of everything1 he  has  
lost himself4 ,the culture of which he  
speaks is not mainly  intellectual4 ,we 
use the word in a way that is apt to    
limit and conceal  its meaning1 and we  

often apply it to a strange form of     
mental growth1  at once stunted and     
overfed1 to which1 if we may judge by   
its fruits1  any breath of real culture 
would be fatal4 ,it has nothing to do   
with  learning in the general and narrow
 sense of the word1 or with the often   
pernicious effects of mere learning4 ,in
 the language of the hour we are  wont  
to give the exclusive name of culture to
 a wide acquaintance with  books and    
languages2 whether or not it results1 as
 it has before now  resulted1 in a want 
of culture in character and outward     
demeanour1 in  airs of conceit1 in      
foolish arrogance1 in malice and        
acrimony4    ,a uniform activity with a 
moral aim--that1 in ,goethe's view1 is  
the  highest we can achieve in life4    
,character in matters great and small   
consists1 he says1 in a man steadily    
pursuing the things of which he  feels  
himself capable4 ,it is the gospel of   
work3 our endeavour must be  to realise 
our best self in deed and action2 to    

strive until our  personality attains1  
in ,aristotle's word1 its entelechy2 its
 full  development4 ,by this alone can  
we resolve all the doubts and           
hesitations  and conflicts within that  
undermine and destroy the soul4 ,try to 
do  your duty1 and you will know at once
 what you are worth4 ,and with all  our 
doing1 what should be the goal of our   
activity8 ,in no wise our own  self1 our
 own weal4 ,a man is happy only when he 
delights in the  good-will of others1   
and we must of a truth give up existence
 in order  to exist2 we must never      
suppose that happiness is identical with
  personal welfare4 ,in the moral sphere
 we need1 as ,kant taught1 a            
categorical imperative2 but1 says       
,goethe1 that is not the end of the     
matter2 it is only the beginning4 ,we   
must widen our conception of duty  and  
recognise a perfect morality only where 
a man loves what he  commands himself to
 do4 ,voluntary dependence is the best  
state1 and  how should that be possible 

without love8 ,and just in the same     
sense  ,goethe refuses to regard all    
self-denial as virtuous1 but only the   
self-denial that leads to some useful   
end4 ,all other forms of it are         
immoral1 since they stunt and cramp the 
free development of what is best  in    
us--the desire1 namely1 to deal         
effectively with our present life1  and 
make the most and fairest of it4    ,and
 here it is that ,goethe's moral code is
 fused with his religious  belief4      
,piety1 he says1 is not an end but a    
means3 a means of  attaining the highest
 culture by the purest tranquillity of  
soul4 ,this  is the piety he preaches2  
not the morbid introspection that leads 
to no  useful end1 the state of brooding
 melancholy1 the timorous               
self-abasement1 the anxious speculation 
as to some other condition of  being4   
,and this tranquillity of soul1 ,goethe 
taught that it should be  ours1 in spite
 of the thousand ills of life which give
 us pause in our  optimism4 ,it is      

attained by the firm assurance that1    
somewhere and  somehow1 a power exists  
that makes for moral good2 that our     
moral  endeavours are met1 so to speak1 
half-way by a moral order in the        
universe1 which comes to the aid of     
individual effort4 ,and the sum and     
substance of his teaching1 whether in   
the maxims or in any other of his       
mature productions1 is that we must     
resign ourselves to this power1 in      
gratitude and reverence towards it and  
all its manifestations in  whatever is  
good and beautiful4 ,this is ,goethe's  
strong faith1 his  perfect and serene   
trust4 ,he finely shadows it forth in   
the closing  words of ,pandora1 where   
,eos proclaims that the work of the gods
 is to  lead our efforts to the eternal 
good1 and that we must give them free   
play3--         ,was zu wnschen ist1 ihr
 unten fhlt es2       ,was zu geben sei1
 die wissen's droben4       ,gross      
beginnet ihr ,titanen2 aber leiten      
,zu dem ewig ,guten1 ewig ,schnen1      

,ist der ,gtter ,werk2 die lasst        
gewhren4    ,and so too in ,faust3 it is
 the long struggle to realise an ,ideal1
  dimly seen on life's labyrinthine way 
of error1 that leads at last to  the    
perfect redemption3--         ,wer immer
 strebend sich bemht1       ,den knnen  
wir erlsen4    ,and throughout the      
perplexities of life and the world1     
where all things  are but signs and     
tokens of some inner and hidden reality1
 it is the  ideal of love and service1  
das ,ewig-,weibliche1 that draws us on4 
,but this assurance cannot be reached by
 a mere theory2 and ,goethe is not  slow
 to declare how he views attempts to    
reach it in that way4 ,credo  ,deum6    
that1 he reminds us here1 is a fine1 a  
worthy thing to say2 but  to recognise  
,god when and where he reveals himself1 
is the only true  bliss on earth4 ,all  
else is mystery4 ,we are not born1 as he
 said to  ,eckermann1 to solve the      
problems of the world1 but to find out  
where the  problem begins1 and then to  

keep within the limits of what we can   
grasp4  ,the problem1 he urged1 is      
transformed into a postulate3 if we     
cannot get  a solution theoretically1 we
 can get it in the experience of        
practical  life4 ,we reach it by the use
 of an active scepticism1 of which he   
says  that it continually aims at       
overcoming itself and arriving by means 
of  regulated experience at a kind of   
conditioned certainty4 ,but he would    
have nothing to do with doctrinal       
systems1 and1 like ,schiller1 professed 
none of the forms of religion from a    
feeling of religion itself4 ,to see  how
 he views some particular questions of  
theology the reader may turn  with      
profit to his maxims on the ,reformation
 and early ,christianity1 and  to his   
admirable remarks on the use and abuse  
of the ,bible4 ,the basis of  religion  
was for him its own earnestness2 and it 
was not always needful1  he held1 for   
truth to take a definite shape3 it is   
enough if it hovers  about us like a    

spirit and produces harmony4 ,i believe1
 he said to  ,eckermann1 in ,god and    
,nature and the victory of good over    
evil2 but ,i  was also asked to believe 
that three was one1 and one was three4  
,that  jarred upon my feeling for truth2
 and ,i did not see how it could have   
helped me in the least4 ,as for letting 
our minds roam beyond this  present     
life1 he thought there was actual danger
 in it2 although he  looked for a future
 existence1 a continuation of work and  
activity1 in  which what is here        
incomplete should reach its full        
development4 ,and  whatever be the      
secrets of the universe1 assuredly the  
best we can do is  to do our best here2 
and the worst of blasphemies is to      
regard this life  as altogether vanity2 
for as these pages tell us1 it would not
 be worth  while to see seventy years if
 all the wisdom of this world were      
foolishness with ,god4    ,in ,goethe we
 pass1 as over a bridge1 from the       
eighteenth century to the  nineteenth2  

but though he lived to see a third of   
the nineteenth  century1 he hardly      
belongs to it4 ,of its political        
characteristics he  had few or none4 ,he
 was no democrat4 ,as the prophet of    
inward culture1  he took the ,french    
,revolution for a disturbance1 an       
interruption1 and  not a development in 
the progress of the world's history2 and
 for all  its horrors and the pernicious
 demoralisation of its leaders1 he had  
the  profoundest aversion4 ,but         
afterwards he came to see that it had   
beneficial results2 that a revolution is
 ultimately never the fault of  the     
people1 but of the injustice and        
incapacity of the government2 and  that 
where there is a real necessity for a   
great reform1 the old leaven  must be   
rooted out4#c ,but he knew the danger of
 such a process1 and he  indicates it   
here in an admirable saying3 ,before the
 ,french ,revolution  it was all effort2
 afterwards it all changed to demand2   
and this  may be supplemented by his    

opinion on the nature of revolutionary  
sentiments3 ,men think they would be    
well-off if they were not ruled1  and   
fail to perceive that they can rule     
neither themselves nor others4  ,and if 
he1 had thus no theoretical sympathy    
with democratic movements1  he had      
little feeling for that other great     
political tendency of our               
time--nationality2 convinced as he was  
that interest in the weal and woe  of   
another people is always a mark of the  
highest culture4 ,but apart  from       
politics there is one characteristic of 
our own time in which he  fully and     
especially shares1 if only for the      
reason that he did much  himself to     
produce it2 and herein he has influenced
 us profoundly and is  influencing us   
still4 ,the nineteenth century has this 
advantage over  every preceding age1    
that in it for the first time honest    
doubt1 instead  of distinguishing a few1
 has become a common virtue4 ,goethe is 
one of  the surest and safest of those  

who have led the transition4 ,we praise 
the eighteenth century1 he writes1 for  
concerning itself chiefly with          
analysis4 ,the task remaining to the    
nineteenth is to discover the false     
syntheses which prevail1 and to analyse 
their contents anew4 ,of the aim  of    
analysis and the proper course of       
inquiry1 no one has given a better      
account than ,goethe in what he says1 in
 the words ,i have quoted1 about  active
 scepticism2 and in the sphere of morals
 and religion it will  perhaps be found 
hereafter that he has contributed1 in   
some degree at  least1 to the attainment
 of that conditioned certainty1 for     
which1 as  we hope1 all our efforts are 
made4    ,in the maxims on ,literature  
there is some excellent criticism on    
literary methods1 and much that may well
 be taken to heart by certain  writers  
of our own day4 ,goethe had little but  
rebuke for the whole of  the romantic   
movement1 which began in his old age4   
,the ,german form of it  he thought     

unnatural1 and at best a conventional   
imitation of an earlier  period2 and the
 ,french form1 of which ,victor ,hugo   
was then the rising  star1 he thought a 
perversion of naturalism1 an            
exaggeration of it until  it became     
insipid or merely revolting4 ,to ,byron 
alone he gave the  tribute of the most  
ungrudging admiration3 in the opposition
 between  classicism and romanticism1 he
 declined to take him for a follower of 
either1 but as the complete             
representative of his own time4 ,the    
maxim  that the classical is health1 and
 the romantic1 disease1 may not         
altogether commend itself to us now2 but
 with wonderful insight ,goethe  foresaw
 the direction in which the romantic    
movement would lead4 ,the  romantic1 he 
says here1 is already fallen into its   
own abysm4 ,it is  hard to imagine      
anything more degraded than the worst of
 the new  productions4 ,if he could have
 said this two generations ago1 what    
would  he have said now8 ,how could he  

have spoken without contempt of those   
who  make all that is common and unclean
 in itself a subject with which         
literature may properly be occupied8    
,these are the writers who profess  to  
be realists1 under a completely mistaken
 notion of what realism  means1 as      
applied to art2 and to them the chief   
realities seem to be  just the very     
things that decent people keep out of   
sight4 ,they forget  that in literature1
 as in all art1 the dominating realities
 are the  highest ,ideals4 ,as an       
antidote to this poison of corruption   
,goethe  pointed to the ancient world1  
and bid us study there the types of the 
loftiest manhood4 ,bodies which rot     
while they are still alive and are      
edified by the detailed contemplation of
 their own decay2 dead men who  remain  
in the world for the ruin of others1 and
 feed their death on the  living--to    
this1 he exclaimed1 have come our makers
 of literature4  ,when the same thing   
happened in antiquity1 it was only as a 

strange  token of some rare disease2 but
 with the moderns the disease has become
  endemic and epidemic4 ,akin to these  
pseudo-realists1 and coming under  the  
same ban1 are some of our modern        
novel-writers who do1 indeed1 avoid  the
 depth of degradation1 but try to move  
the feelings by dwelling in a  similar  
fashion on matters which are not1 and   
never can be1 fit subjects  of literary 
treatment2 such as painful deaths by    
horrible distempers1 or  the minute     
details of prolonged operations4 ,it is 
poor skill that cannot  find material   
enough in the moral sufferings of men   
and women1 and is  driven to seek effect
 in descriptions of disease and surgery4
 ,surely in  any literature worthy of   
the name these are topics which a richer
  imagination and a more prolific art   
would have found unnecessary1 and       
better taste would have left            
undescribed4    ,to another class of    
writers--those who handle a pretty pen  
without  having anything definite to    

present1 or anything important to say1  
,goethe has also an applicable word4 ,it
 is a class which is always  increasing 
in number1 and tends to increase in     
talent4 ,we may admit that  second- or  
third-rate work1 especially in poetry1  
was never before done  so well as it is 
done now2 and still we may find some    
useful truth in a  distinction which    
,goethe drew for the benefit of the     
minor poets and the  minor prose-writers
 of his own age4 ,productions are now   
possible1 he  said1 which1 without being
 bad1 have no value4 ,they have no      
value1  because they contain nothing2   
and they are not bad1 because a general 
form of good workmanship is present to  
the author's mind4 ,in one of the  many 
neglected volumes of his miscellaneous  
writings ,goethe has a series  of       
admirable notes for a proposed work on  
,dilettantism2 and there the  reader1 if
 he is interested in ,goethe's literary 
criticism1 will find  some instructive  
remarks in close connection with this   

aphorism1 and  also certain rules for   
discriminating between good and         
indifferent work  which ought to receive
 the most attentive study4 ,and the     
stylists who  neglect plain language for
 a mosaic of curious phrase and         
overstrained  epithet1 may profitably   
remember that1 as ,goethe here says1 it 
is not  language in itself which is     
correct or forcible or elegant1 but the 
mind  that is embodied in it4           
,translators1 he tells us1 sing the     
praises of some half-veiled beauty  and 
rouse an irresistible longing for the   
original4 ,to them also he  gives a     
piece of excellent advice3 ,the         
translator must proceed until  he       
reaches the untranslatable4 ,this is a  
counsel of exhortation as well  as of   
warning4 ,it bids the translator spare  
no effort1 but tells him  that at a     
certain point his efforts are of no     
avail4 ,but none the less1  ,goethe     
might have added1 the faithful          
translator must strive as if this       

hindrance to perfection did not exist2  
for it is thus only that he1 or  any one
 else1 can do anything worth doing4 ,on 
methods of translation  much may be     
said1 and it is sometimes urged1 in a   
given case1 that it is  not literal or  
that it is too free4 ,a distinguished   
writer has recently  laid down that a   
translation should reproduce every word 
and phrase and  sentence of the original
 as accurately as a delicate tracing    
reproduces  the lines of a drawing4     
,this is advice which may hold in the   
school-room1 but1 ,i venture to         
maintain1 nowhere else4 ,in so far as   
every language has a peculiar genius1 a 
literal translation must  necessarily be
 a bad one2 and any faithful translation
 will of its  nature be free4 ,in other 
words1 a translator will err if he      
slavishly  adheres to mere expression2  
he must have complete liberty to give   
his  author's meaning and style in the  
manner which he holds to be truest to   
the original2 and so1 in translating    

from a foreign tongue1 it will be  well 
for him to have some knowledge of his   
own4 ,but he must guard  against the    
abuse of his position3 his liberty may  
become license1 and  his translation    
instead of being faithful may be        
phantastic4 ,the  translator's first and
 last duty is1 then1 to efface himself4 
,his first  duty is to stand entirely at
 the point of view of his author's      
thought2  his last1 to find the clearest
 and nearest expression in his own      
language both for that thought and for  
whatever is characteristic in the  way  
of conveying it2 neither adding anything
 of his own nor taking away  anything   
from his author4 ,the best translation  
is thus a re-embodiment  of the author's
 spirit1 a real metempsychosis4 ,nothing
 can be done  without ideals1 and this  
is the ideal at which the present       
translation  aims4 ,that it fails of its
 aim and has many defects1 no one knows 
better  than the translator himself2 and
 he can only cherish the hope that where

  he falls short he is sometimes close  
to the confines of what cannot be       
translated4    ,december #b1 #ahib4     
#a ,goethe's ,sprche in ,prosa3 zum     
ersten ,mal erlutert und auf ihre       
,quellen zurckgefhrt von ,g4 v4 ,loeper1
 ,berlin1 #ahgj4 ,this forms the  text  
of the translation4    #b ,wilhelm      
,meisters ,wanderjahre1 ,bk4 ,i4 ch4    
#aj4    #c ,gesprche mit ,eckermann1    
,,iii4 #d ,january1 #ahbd4              
,,life ,,and ,,character      ,i    #a  
,there is nothing worth thinking but it 
has been thought before2 we must  only  
try to think it again4    #b    ,how can
 a man come to know himself8 ,never by  
thinking1 but by doing4 ,try  to do your
 duty1 and you will know at once what   
you are worth4    #c    ,but what is    
your duty8 ,the claims of the day4    #d
    ,the world of reason is to be       
regarded as a great and immortal being1 
who  ceaselessly works out what is      
necessary1 and so makes himself lord    
also  over what is accidental4    #e    

,the longer ,i live1 the more it grieves
 me to see man1 who occupies his        
supreme place for the very purpose of   
imposing his will upon nature1 and      
freeing himself and his from an         
outrageous necessity1--to see him taken 
up with some false notion1 and doing    
just the opposite of what he wants  to  
do2 and then1 because the whole bent of 
his mind is spoilt1 bungling  miserably 
over everything4    #f    ,be genuine   
and strenuous2 earn for yourself1 and   
look for1 grace from  those in high     
places2 from the powerful1 favour2 from 
the active and  the good1 advancement2  
from the many1 affection2 from the      
individual1  love4    #g    ,tell me    
with whom you associate1 and ,i will    
tell you who you are4 ,if ,i  know what 
your business is1 ,i know what can be   
made of you4    #h    ,every man must   
think after his own fashion2 for on his 
own path he finds  a truth1 or a kind of
 truth1 which helps him through life4   
,but he must  not give himself the rein2

 he must control himself2 mere naked    
instinct  does not become him4    #i    
,unqualified activity1 of whatever kind1
 leads at last to bankruptcy4    #aj    
,in the works of mankind1 as in those of
 nature1 it is really the motive  which 
is chiefly worth attention4    #aa      
,men get out of countenance with        
themselves and others because they treat
  the means as the end1 and so1 from    
sheer doing1 do nothing1 or1 perhaps1   
just what they would have avoided4      
#ab    ,our plans and designs should be 
so perfect in truth and beauty1 that in 
touching them the world could only mar4 
,we should thus have the  advantage of  
setting right what is wrong1 and        
restoring what is  destroyed4    #ac    
,it is a very hard and troublesome thing
 to dispose of whole1 half-1 and        
quarter-mistakes2 to sift them and      
assign the portion of truth to its      
proper place4    #ad    ,it is not      
always needful for truth to take a      
definite shape2 it is  enough if it     

hovers about us like a spirit and       
produces harmony2 if it  is wafted      
through the air like the sound of a     
bell1 grave and kindly4    #ae          
,general ideas and great conceit are    
always in a fair way to bring about     
terrible misfortune4    #af    ,you     
cannot play the flute by blowing alone3 
you must use your fingers4    #ag    ,in
 ,botany there is a species of plants   
called ,incomplet2 and just in  the same
 way it can be said that there are men  
who are incomplete and  imperfect4 ,they
 are those whose desires and struggles  
are out of  proportion to their actions 
and achievements4    #ah    ,the most   
insignificant man can be complete if he 
works within the limits  of his         
capacities1 innate or acquired2 but even
 fine talents can be  obscured1         
neutralised1 and destroyed by lack of   
this indispensable  requirement of      
symmetry4 ,this is a mischief which will
 often occur in  modern times2 for who  
will be able to come up to the claims of

 an age so  full and intense as this1   
and one too that moves so rapidly8      
#ai    ,it is only men of practical     
ability1 knowing their powers and using 
them  with moderation and prudence1 who 
will be successful in worldly affairs4  
#bj    ,it is a great error to take     
oneself for more than one is1 or for    
less  than one is worth4    #ba    ,from
 time to time ,i meet with a youth in   
whom ,i can wish for no  alteration or  
improvement1 only ,i am sorry to see how
 often his nature  makes him quite ready
 to swim with the stream of the time2   
and it is on  this that ,i would always 
insist1 that man in his fragile boat has
 the  rudder placed in his hand1 just   
that he may not be at the mercy of the  
waves1 but follow the direction of his  
own insight4    #bb    ,but how is a    
young man to come of himself to see     
blame in things which  every one is busy
 with1 which every one approves and     
promotes8 ,why  should he not follow his
 natural bent and go in the same        

direction as  they8    #bc    ,i must   
hold it for the greatest calamity of our
 time1 which lets nothing  come to      
maturity1 that one moment is consumed by
 the next1 and the day  spent in the    
day2 so that a man is always living from
 hand to mouth1  without having anything
 to show for it4 ,have we not already   
newspapers  for every hour of the day6  
,a good head could assuredly intercalate
 one  or other of them4 ,they publish   
abroad everything that every one does1  
or  is busy with or meditating2 nay1 his
 very designs are thereby dragged  into 
publicity4 ,no one can rejoice or be    
sorry1 but as a pastime for  others2 and
 so it goes on from house to house1 from
 city to city1 from  kingdom to kingdom1
 and at last from one hemisphere to the 
other1--all  in post haste4    #bd      
,as little as you can stifle a          
steam-engine1 so little can you do this 
in  the moral sphere either4 ,the       
activity of commerce1 the rush and      
rustle  of paper-money1 the swelling-up 

of debts to pay debts--all these are    
the monstrous elements to which in these
 days a young man is exposed4  ,well is 
it for him if he is gifted by nature    
with a sober1 quiet  temperament2       
neither to make claims on the world out 
of all proportion  to his position1 nor 
yet let the world determine it4    #be  
,but on all sides he is threatened by   
the spirit of the day1 and nothing  is  
more needful than to make him see early 
enough the direction in which  his will 
has to steer4    #bf    ,the            
significance of the most harmless words 
and actions grows with the  years1 and  
if ,i see any one about me for any      
length of time1 ,i always  try to show  
him the difference there is between     
sincerity1 confidence1  and             
indiscretion2 nay1 that in truth there  
is no difference at all1 but  a gentle  
transition from what is most innocent to
 what is most hurtful2  a transition    
which must be perceived or rather felt4 
#bg    ,herein we must exercise our     

tact2 otherwise in the very way in which
 we  have won the favour of mankind1 we 
run the risk of trifling it away  again 
unawares4 ,this is a lesson which a man 
learns quite well for  himself in the   
course of life1 but only after having   
paid a dear price  for it2 nor can he1  
unhappily1 spare his posterity a like   
expenditure4    #bh    ,love of truth   
shows itself in this1 that a man knows  
how to find and  value the good in      
everything4    #bi    ,character calls  
forth character4    #cj    ,if ,i am to 
listen to another man's opinion1 it must
 be expressed  positively4 ,of things   
problematical ,i have enough in myself4 
#ca    ,superstition is a part of the   
very being of humanity2 and when we     
fancy  that we are banishing it         
altogether1 it takes refuge in the      
strangest  nooks and corners1 and then  
suddenly comes forth again1 as soon as  
it  believes itself at all safe4    #cb 
,i keep silence about many things1 for  
,i do not want to put people out of     

countenance2 and ,i am well content if  
they are pleased with things that  annoy
 me4    #cc    ,everything that frees   
our spirit without giving us control of 
ourselves  is ruinous4    #cd    ,a man 
is really alive only when he delights in
 the good-will of others4    #ce        
,piety is not an end1 but a means3 a    
means of attaining the highest  culture 
by the purest tranquillity of soul4     
#cf    ,hence it may be observed that   
those who set up piety as an end and    
object are mostly hypocrites4    #cg    
,when a man is old he must do more than 
when he was young4    #ch    ,to fulfil 
a duty is still always to feel it as a  
debt1 for it is never  quite satisfying 
to oneself4    #ci    ,defects are      
perceived only by one who has no love2  
therefore1 to see  them1 a man must     
become uncharitable1 but not more so    
than is necessary  for the purpose4     
#dj    ,the greatest piece of good      
fortune is that which corrects our      
deficiencies and redeems our mistakes4  

#da    ,reading ought to mean           
understanding2 writing ought to mean    
knowing  something2 believing ought to  
mean comprehending2 when you desire a   
thing1 you will have to take it2 when   
you demand it1 you will not get  it2 and
 when you are experienced1 you ought to 
be useful to others4    #db    ,the     
stream is friendly to the miller whom it
 serves2 it likes to pour  over the mill
 wheels2 what is the good of it stealing
 through the valley  in apathy8    #dc  
,whoso is content with pure experience  
and acts upon it has enough of  truth4  
,the growing child is wise in this      
sense4    #dd    ,theory is in itself of
 no use1 except in so far as it makes us
 believe  in the connection of          
phenomena4    #de    ,when a man asks   
too much and delights in complication1  
he is exposed to  perplexity4    #df    
,thinking by means of analogies is not  
to be condemned4 ,analogy has this      
advantage1 that it comes to no          
conclusion1 and does not1 in truth1 aim 

at finality at all4 ,induction1 on the  
contrary1 is fatal1 for it sets up  an  
object and keeps it in view1 and1       
working on towards it1 drags false  and 
true with it in its train4    #dg       
,the absent works upon us by tradition4 
,the usual form of it may be  called    
historical2 a higher form1 akin to the  
imaginative faculty1 is  the mythical4  
,if some third form of it is to be      
sought behind this last1  and it has any
 meaning1 it is transformed into the    
mystical4 ,it also  easily becomes      
sentimental1 so that we appropriate to  
our use only what  suits us4    #dh     
,in contemplation as in action1 we must 
distinguish between what may be         
attained and what is unattainable4      
,without this1 little can be achieved1  
either in life or in knowledge4    #di  
',le sense commun est le gnie de        
l'humanit4'    ,common-sense1 which is  
here put forward as the genius of       
humanity1 must  be examined first of all
 in the way it shows itself4 ,if we     

inquire the  purpose to which humanity  
puts it1 we find as follows3 ,humanity  
is  conditioned by needs4 ,if they are  
not satisfied1 men become impatient2    
and if they are1 it seems not to affect 
them4 ,the normal man moves  between    
these two states1 and he applies his    
understanding--his  so-called           
common-sense--to the satisfaction of his
 needs4 ,when his needs  are satisfied1 
his task is to fill up the waste spaces 
of indifference4  ,here1 too1 he is     
successful1 if his needs are confined to
 what is  nearest and most necessary4   
,but if they rise and pass beyond the   
sphere  of ordinary wants1 common-sense 
is no longer sufficient2 it is a genius 
no more1 and humanity enters on the     
region of error4    #ej    ,there is no 
piece of foolishness but it can be      
corrected by intelligence  or accident2 
no piece of wisdom but it can miscarry  
by lack of  intelligence or by accident4
    #ea    ,every great idea is a tyrant
 when it first appears2 hence the       

advantages  which it produces change all
 too quickly into disadvantages4 ,it is 
possible1 then1 to defend and praise any
 institution that exists1 if its        
beginnings are brought to remembrance1  
and it is shown that everything  which  
was true of it at the beginning is true 
of it still4    #eb    ,lessing1 who    
chafed under the sense of various       
limitations1 makes one of  his          
characters say3 ,no one must do         
anything4 ,a clever pious man said3  ,if
 a man wills something1 he must do it4  
,a third1 who was1 it is true1  an      
educated man1 added3 ,will follows upon 
insight4 ,the whole circle  of          
knowledge1 will1 and necessity was thus 
believed to have been  completed4 ,but1 
as a rule1 a man's knowledge1 of        
whatever kind it may  be1 determines    
what he shall do and what he shall leave
 undone1 and so  it is that there is no 
more terrible sight than ignorance in   
action4    #ec    ,there are two powers 
that make for peace3 what is right1 and 

what is  fitting4    #ed    ,justice    
insists on obligation1 law on decorum4  
,justice weighs and  decides1 law       
superintends and orders4 ,justice refers
 to the individual1  law to society4    
#ee    ,the history of knowledge is a   
great fugue in which the voices of the  
nations one after the other emerge4     
,,ii      #ef    ,if a man is to achieve
 all that is asked of him1 he must take 
himself  for more than he is1 and as    
long as he does not carry it to an      
absurd  length1 we willingly put up with
 it4    #eg    ,work makes              
companionship4    #eh    ,people whip   
curds to see if they cannot make cream  
of them4    #ei    ,it is much easier to
 put yourself in the position of a mind 
taken up  with the most absolute error1 
than of one which mirrors to itself     
half-truths4    #fj    ,wisdom lies only
 in truth4    #fa    ,when ,i err1 every
 one can see it2 but not when ,i lie4   
#fb    ,is not the world full enough of 
riddles already1 without our making     

riddles too out of the simplest         
phenomena8    #fc    ',the finest hair  
throws a shadow4' ,erasmus4    #fd      
,what ,i have tried to do in my life    
through false tendencies1 ,i have at    
last learned to understand4    #fe      
,generosity wins favour for every one1  
especially when it is accompanied  by   
modesty4    #ff    ,before the storm    
breaks1 the dust rises violently for the
 last time--the  dust that is soon to be
 laid forever4    #fg    ,men do not    
come to know one another easily1 even   
with the best will and  the best        
purpose4 ,and then ill-will comes in and
 distorts everything4    #fh    ,we     
should know one another better if one   
man were not so anxious to put  himself 
on an equality with another4    #fi     
,eminent men are therefore in a worse   
plight than others2 for1 as we  cannot  
compare ourselves with them1 we are on  
the watch for them4    #gj    ,in the   
world the point is1 not to know men1 but
 at any given moment to  be cleverer    

than the man who stands before you4 ,you
 can prove this at  every fair and from 
every charlatan4    #ga    ,not         
everywhere where there is water1 are    
there frogs2 but where you have  frogs1 
there you will find water4    #gb       
,error is quite right as long as we are 
young1 but we must not carry it  on with
 us into our old age4    ,whims and     
eccentricities that grow stale are all  
useless1 rank nonsense4    #gc    ,in   
the formation of species ,nature gets1  
as it were1 into a  cul-de-sac2 she     
cannot make her way through1 and is     
disinclined to  turn back4 ,hence the   
stubbornness of national character4     
#gd    ,every one has something in his  
nature which1 if he were to express it  
openly1 would of necessity give offence4
    #ge    ,if a man thinks about his   
physical or moral condition1 he         
generally  finds that he is ill4    #gf 
,nature asks that a man should sometimes
 be stupefied without going to  sleep2  
hence the pleasure in the smoking of    

tobacco1 the drinking of  brandy1 the   
use of opiates4    #gg    ,the man who  
is up and doing should see to it that   
what he does is right4  ,whether or not 
right is done1 is a matter which should 
not trouble him4    #gh    ,many a man  
knocks about on the wall with his       
hammer1 and believes that  he hits the  
right nail on the head every time4      
#gi    ,painting and tattooing of the   
body is a return to animalism4    #hj   
,history-writing is a way of getting rid
 of the past4    #ha    ,what a man does
 not understand1 he does not possess4   
#hb    ,not every one who has a pregnant
 thought delivered to him becomes       
productive2 it probably makes him think 
of something with which he is  quite    
familiar4    #hc    ,favour1 as a symbol
 of sovereignty1 is exercised by weak   
men4    #hd    ,every man has enough    
power left to carry out that of which he
 is  convinced4    #he    ,memory may   
vanish so long as at the moment judgment
 does not fail you4    #hf    ,no nation

 gains the power of judgment except it  
can pass judgment on  itself4 ,but to   
attain this great privilege takes a very
 long time4    #hg    ,instead of       
contradicting my words people ought to  
act in my spirit4    #hh    ,those who  
oppose intellectual truths do but stir  
up the fire1 and the  cinders fly about 
and burn what they had else not touched4
    #hi    ,man would not be the finest 
creature in the world if he were not too
  fine for it4    #ij    ,what a long   
time people were vainly disputing about 
the ,antipodes6    #ia    ,certain minds
 must be allowed their peculiarities4   
#ib    ,snow is false purity4    #ic    
,whoso shrinks from ideas ends by having
 nothing but sensations4    #id         
,those from whom we are always learning 
are rightly called our masters2  but not
 every one who teaches us deserves this 
title4    #ie    ,it is with you as with
 the sea3 the most varied names are     
given to what  is in the end only salt  
water4    #if    ,it is said that vain  

self-praise stinks in the nostrils4     
,that may be so2  but for the kind of   
smell which comes from unjust blame by  
others the  public has no nose at all4  
#ig    ,there are problematical natures 
which are equal to no position in which 
they find themselves1 and which no      
position satisfies4 ,this it is that    
causes that hideous conflict which      
wastes life and deprives it of all      
pleasure4    #ih    ,if we do any real  
good1 it is mostly clam1 vi1 et         
precario4    #ii    ,dirt glitters as   
long as the sun shines4    #ajj    ,it  
is difficult to be just to the passing  
moment4 ,we are bored by it if  it is   
neither good nor bad2 but the good      
moment lays a task upon us1 and  the bad
 moment a burden4    #aja    ,he is the 
happiest man who can set the end of his 
life in connection  with the beginning4 
#ajb    ,so obstinately contradictory is
 man that you cannot compel him to his  
advantage1 yet he yields before         
everything that forces him to his hurt4 

#ajc    ,forethought is simple1         
afterthought manifold4    #ajd    ,a    
state of things in which every day      
brings some new trouble is not the      
right one4    #aje    ,when people      
suffer by failing to look before them1  
nothing is  commoner than trying to look
 out for some possible remedy4    #ajf  
,the ,hindoos of the ,desert make a     
solemn vow to eat no fish4    #ajg      
,to venture an opinion is like moving a 
piece at chess3 it may be taken1  but it
 forms the beginning of a game that is  
won4    #ajh    ,it is as certain as it 
is strange that truth and error come    
from one and  the same source4 ,thus it 
is that we are often not at liberty to  
do  violence to error1 because at the   
same time we do violence to truth4      
#aji    ,truth belongs to the man1 error
 to his age4 ,this is why it has been   
said  that1 while the misfortune of the 
age caused his error1 the force of his  
soul made him emerge from the error with
 glory4    #aaj    ,every one has his   

peculiarities and cannot get rid of     
them2 and yet many  a one is destroyed  
by his peculiarities1 and those too of  
the most  innocent kind4    #aaa    ,if 
a man does think too much of himself1 he
 is more than he believes  himself to   
be4    #aab    ,in art and knowledge1 as
 also in deed and action1 everything    
depends on  a pure apprehension of the  
object and a treatment of it according  
to its  nature4    #aac    ,when        
intelligent and sensible people despise 
knowledge in their old age1  it is only 
because they have asked too much of it  
and of themselves4    #aad    ,i pity   
those who make much ado about the       
transitory nature of all things  and are
 lost in the contemplation of earthly   
vanity3 are we not here to  make the    
transitory permanent8 ,this we can do   
only if we know how to  value both4     
#aae    ,a rainbow which lasts a quarter
 of an hour is looked at no more4       
#aaf    ,it used to happen1 and still   
happens1 to me to take no pleasure in a 

work of art at the first sight of it1   
because it is too much for me2 but  if  
,i suspect any merit in it1 ,i try to   
get at it2 and then ,i never fail  to   
make the most gratifying                
discoveries1--to find new qualities in  
the  work itself and new faculties in   
myself4    #aag    ,faith is private    
capital1 kept in one's own house4 ,there
 are public  savings-banks and          
loan-offices1 which supply individuals  
in their day of  need2 but here the     
creditor quietly takes his interest for 
himself4    #aah    ,real obscurantism  
is not to hinder the spread of what is  
true1 clear1  and useful1 but to bring  
into vogue what is false4    #aai       
,during a prolonged study of the lives  
of various men both great and  small1 ,i
 came upon this thought3 ,in the web of 
the world the one may  well be regarded 
as the warp1 the other as the woof4 ,it 
is the little  men1 after all1 who give 
breadth to the web1 and the great men   
firmness  and solidity2 perhaps1 also1  

the addition of some sort of pattern4   
,but  the scissors of the ,fates        
determine its length1 and to that all   
the rest  must join in submitting       
itself4    #abj    ,truth is a torch1   
but a huge one1 and so it is only with  
blinking eyes  that we all of us try to 
get past it1 in actual terror of being  
burnt4    #aba    ',the wise have much  
in common with one another4' schylus4   
#abb    ,the really foolish thing in men
 who are otherwise intelligent is that  
they fail to understand what another    
person says1 when he does not  exactly  
hit upon the right way of saying it4    
#abc    ,because a man speaks1 he thinks
 he is able to speak about language4    
#abd    ,one need only grow old to      
become gentler in one's judgments4 ,i   
see no  fault committed which ,i could  
not have committed myself4    #abe      
,the man who acts never has any         
conscience2 no one has any conscience   
but  the man who thinks4    #abf    ,why
 should those who are happy expect one  

who is miserable to die before  them in 
a graceful attitude1 like the gladiator 
before the ,roman mob8    #abg    ,some 
one asked ,timon about the education of 
his children4 ',let them1' he  said1 'be
 instructed in that which they will     
never understand4'    #abh    ,there are
 people whom ,i wish well1 and would    
that ,i could wish better4    #abi      
,by force of habit we look at a clock   
that has run down as if it were  still  
going1 and we gaze at the face of a     
beauty as though she still  loved4      
#acj    ,hatred is active displeasure1  
envy passive4 ,we need not wonder that  
envy  turns so soon to hatred4      #aca
    ,there is something magical in      
rhythm2 it even makes us believe that we
  possess the sublime4    #acb          
,dilettantism treated seriously1 and    
knowledge pursued mechanically1 end  by 
becoming pedantry4    #acc    ,no one   
but the master can promote the cause of 
,art4 ,patrons help the  master1--that  
is right and proper2 but that does not  

always mean that  ,art is helped4       
#acd    ,the most foolish of all errors 
is for clever young men to believe that 
they forfeit their originality in       
recognising a truth which has already   
been recognised by others4    #ace      
,scholars are generally malignant when  
they are refuting others2 and if  they  
think a man is making a mistake1 they   
straightway look upon him as  their     
mortal enemy4    #acf    ,beauty can    
never really understand itself4         
,,iii      #acg    ,it is much easier to
 recognise error than to find truth2 for
 error lies  on the surface and may be  
overcome2 but truth lies in the depths1 
and to  search for it is not given to   
every one4    #ach    ,we all live on   
the past1 and through the past are      
destroyed4    #aci    ,we are no sooner 
about to learn some great lesson than we
 take refuge in  our own innate poverty 
of soul1 and yet for all that the lesson
 has not  been quite in vain4    #adj   
,the world of empirical morality        

consists for the most part of nothing   
but ill-will and envy4    #ada    ,life 
seems so vulgar1 so easily content with 
the commonplace things of  every day1   
and yet it always nurses and cherishes  
certain higher claims  in secret1 and   
looks about for the means of satisfying 
them4    #adb    ,confidences are       
strange things4 ,if you listen only to  
one man1 it is  possible that he is     
deceived or mistaken2 if you listen to  
many1 they  are in a like case2 and1    
generally1 you cannot get at the truth  
at all4    #adc    ,no one should desire
 to live in irregular circumstances2 but
 if by  chance a man falls into them1   
they test his character and show of how 
much determination he is capable4       
#add    ,an honourable man with limited 
ideas often sees through the rascality  
of  the most cunning jobber4    #ade    
,if a man feels no love1 he must learn  
how to flatter2 otherwise he will  not  
succeed4    #adf    ,against criticism a
 man can neither protest nor defend     

himself2 he must  act in spite of it1   
and then criticism will gradually yield 
to him4    #adg    ,the masses cannot   
dispense with men of ability1 and such  
men are always  a burden to them4       
#adh    ,if a man spreads my failings   
abroad1 he is my master1 even though he 
were my servant4    #adi    ,whether    
memoirs are written by masters of       
servants1 or by servants of  masters1   
the processes always meet4    #aej      
,if you lay duties upon people and give 
them no rights1 you must pay them  well4
    #aea    ,i can promise to be        
sincere1 but not to be impartial4       
#aeb    ,ingratitude is always a kind of
 weakness4 ,i have never known men of   
ability to be ungrateful4    #aec    ,we
 are all so limited that we always think
 we are right2 and so we may  conceive  
of an extraordinary mind which not only 
errs but has a positive  delight in     
error4    #aed    ,it is very rare to   
find pure and steady activity in the    
accomplishment  of what is good and     

right4 ,we usually see pedantry trying  
to keep back1  and audacity trying to go
 on too fast4    #aee    ,word and      
picture are correlatives which are      
continually in quest of each  other1 as 
is sufficiently evident in the case of  
metaphors and similes4  ,so from all    
time what was said or sung inwardly to  
the ear had to be  presented equally to 
the eye4 ,and so in childish days we see
 word and  picture in continual balance2
 in the book of the law and in the way  
of  salvation1 in the ,bible and in the 
spelling-book4 ,when something was      
spoken which could not be pictured1 and 
something pictured which could  not be  
spoken1 all went well2 but mistakes were
 often made1 and a word  was used       
instead of a picture2 and thence arose  
those monsters of  symbolical mysticism1
 which are doubly an evil4    #aef      
,for the man of the world a collection  
of anecdotes and maxims is of the       
greatest value1 if he knows how to      
intersperse the one in his  conversation

 at fitting moments1 and remember the   
other when a case  arises for their     
application4    #aeg    ,when you lose  
interest in anything1 you also lose the 
memory for it4    #aeh    ,the world is 
a bell with a crack in it2 it rattles1  
but does not ring4    #aei    ,the      
importunity of young dilettanti must be 
borne with good-will2 for as  they grow 
old they become the truest worshippers  
of ,art and the ,master4    #afj        
,people have to become really bad before
 they care for nothing but  mischief1   
and delight in it4    #afa    ,clever   
people are the best encyclopdia4    #afb
    ,there are people who make no       
mistakes because they never wish to do  
anything worth doing4    #afc    ,if ,i 
know my relation to myself and the outer
 world1 ,i call it truth4  ,every man   
can have his own peculiar truth2 and yet
 it is always the  same4    #afd    ,no 
one is the master of any truly          
productive energy2 and all men must  let
 it work on by itself4    #afe    ,a man

 never understands how anthropomorphic  
he is4    #aff    ,a difference which   
offers nothing to the understanding is  
no difference  at all4    #afg    ,a man
 cannot live for every one2 least of all
 for those with whom he  would not care 
to live4    #afh    ,if a man sets out  
to study all the laws1 he will have no  
time left to  transgress them4    #afi  
,things that are mysterious are not yet 
miracles4    #agj    ',converts are not 
in my good books4'    #aga    ,a        
frivolous impulsive encouragement of    
problematical talents was a  mistake of 
my early years2 and ,i have never been  
able to abandon it  altogether4    #agb 
,i should like to be honest with you1   
without our falling out2 but it  will   
not do4 ,you act wrongly1 and fall      
between two stools2 you win no          
adherents and lose your friends4 ,what  
is to be the end of it8    #agc    ,it  
is all one whether you are of high or of
 humble origin4 ,you will  always have  
to pay for your humanity4    #agd       

,when ,i hear people speak of liberal   
ideas1 it is always a wonder to me  that
 men are so readily put off with empty  
verbiage4 ,an idea cannot be  liberal2  
but it may be potent1 vigorous1         
exclusive1 in order to fulfil  its      
mission of being productive4 ,still less
 can a concept be liberal2  for a       
concept has quite another mission4      
,where1 however1 we must look  for      
liberality1 is in the sentiments2 and   
the sentiments are the inner  man as he 
lives and moves4 ,a man's sentiments1   
however1 are rarely  liberal1 because   
they proceed directly from him          
personally1 and from his  immediate     
relations and requirements4 ,further we 
will not write1 and let  us apply this  
test to what we hear every day4    #age 
,if a clever man commits a folly1 it is 
not a small one4    #agf    ,there is a 
poetry without figures of speech1 which 
is a single figure of  speech4    #agg  
,i went on troubling myself about       
general ideas until ,i learnt to        

understand the particular achievements  
of the best men4    #agh    ,it is only 
when a man knows little1 that he knows  
anything at all4 ,with  knowledge grows 
doubt4    #agi    ,the errors of a man  
are what make him really lovable4       
#ahj    ,there are men who love their   
like and seek it2 others love their     
opposite and follow after it4    #aha   
,if a man has always let himself think  
the world as bad as the adversary       
represents it to be1 he must have become
 a miserable person4    #ahb            
,ill-favour and hatred limit the        
spectator to the surface1 even when keen
  perception is added unto them2 but    
when keen perception unites with        
good-will and love1 it gets at the heart
 of man and the world2 nay1 it  may hope
 to reach the highest goal of all4      
#ahc    ,raw matter is seen by every    
one2 the contents are found only by him 
who  has his eyes about him2 and the    
form is a secret to the majority4       
#ahd    ,we may learn to know the world 

as we please3 it will always retain a   
bright and a dark side4    #ahe         
,error is continually repeating itself  
in action1 and we must unweariedly      
repeat the truth in word4    #ahf    ,as
 in ,rome there is1 apart from the      
,romans1 a population of statues1 so    
apart from this real world there is a   
world of illusion1 almost more  potent1 
in which most men live4    #ahg         
,mankind is like the ,red ,sea3 the     
staff has scarcely parted the waves     
asunder1 before they flow together      
again4    #ahh    ,thoughts come back2  
beliefs persist2 facts pass by never to 
return4    #ahi    ,of all peoples1 the 
,greeks have dreamt the dream of life   
the best4    #aij    ,we readily bow to 
antiquity1 but not to posterity4 ,it is 
only a father  that does not grudge     
talent to his son4    #aia    ,there is 
no virtue in subordinating oneself2 but 
there is virtue in  descending1 and in  
recognising anything as above us1 which 
is beneath  us4    #aib    ,the whole   

art of living consists in giving up     
existence in order to  exist4    #aic   
,all our pursuits and actions are a     
wearying process4 ,well is it for him   
who wearies not4    #aid    ,hope is the
 second soul of the unhappy4    #aie    
,love is a true renovator4    #aif      
,mankind is not without a wish to serve2
 hence the chivalry of the ,french  is a
 servitude4    #aig    ,in the theatre  
the pleasure of what we see and hear    
restrains our  reflections4    #aih     
,there is no limit to the increase of   
experience1 but theories cannot  become 
clearer and more complete in just the   
same sense4 ,the field of  experience is
 the whole universe in all directions4  
,theory remains shut  up within the     
limits of the human faculties4 ,hence   
there is no way of  looking at the      
world1 but it recurs1 and the curious   
thing happens1 that  with increased     
experience a limited theory may again   
come into favour4    ,it is always the  
same world which stands open to         

observation1 which is  continually being
 contemplated or guessed at2 and it is  
always the same  men who live in the    
true or in the false2 more at their ease
 in the  latter than in the former4     
#aii    ,truth is at variance with our  
natures1 but not so error2 and for a    
very  simple reason4 ,truth requires us 
to recognise ourselves as limited1 but  
error flatters us with the belief that  
in one way or another we are  subject to
 no bounds at all4    #bjj    ,that some
 men think they can still do what they  
have been able to do1 is  natural       
enough2 that others think they can do   
what they have never been  able to do1  
is singular1 but not rare4    #bja      
,at all times it has not been the age1  
but individuals alone1 who have  worked 
for knowledge4 ,it was the age which put
 ,socrates to death by  poison1 the age 
which burnt ,huss4 ,the ages have always
 remained alike4    #bjb    ,that is    
true ,symbolism1 where the more         
particular represents the more  general1

 not as a dream or shade1 but as a      
vivid1 instantaneous  revelation of the 
,inscrutable4    #bjc    ,everything of 
an abstract or symbolic nature1 as soon 
as it is  challenged by realities1 ends 
by consuming them and itself4 ,so credit
  consumes both money and itself4       
#bjd    ,mastery often passes for       
egoism4    #bje    ,with ,protestants1  
as soon as good works cease and their   
merit is denied1  sentimentality takes  
their place4    #bjf    ,if a man knows 
where to get good advice1 it is as      
though he could supply  it himself4     
#bjg    ,the use of mottoes is to       
indicate something we have not attained1
 but  strive to attain4 ,it is right to 
keep them always before our eyes4       
#bjh    ',if a man cannot lift a stone  
himself1 let him leave it1 even though  
he  has some one to help him4'    #bji  
,despotism promotes general             
self-government1 because from top to    
bottom  it makes the individual         
responsible1 and so produces the highest

 degree  of activity4    #baj    ,a man 
must pay dear for his errors if he      
wishes to get rid of them1 and  even    
then he is lucky4    #baa    ,enthusiasm
 is of the greatest value1 so long as we
 are not carried away  by it4    #bab   
,school itself is the only true         
preparation for it4    #bac    ,error is
 related to truth as sleep to waking4 ,i
 have observed that on  awakening from  
error a man turns again to truth as with
 new vigour4    #bad    ,every one      
suffers who does not work for himself4  
,a man works for others  to have them   
share in his joy4    #bae    ,men's     
prejudices rest upon their character for
 the time being and cannot  be overcome1
 as being part and parcel of themselves4
 ,neither evidence  nor common-sense nor
 reason has the slightest influence upon
 them4    #baf    ,characters often make
 a law of their failings4 ,men who know 
the world  have said that when prudence 
is only fear in disguise1 its scruples  
cannot be conquered4 ,the weak often    

have revolutionary sentiments2 they     
think they would be well off if they    
were not ruled1 and fail to  perceive   
that they can rule neither themselves   
nor others4    #bag    ,common-sense is 
born pure in the healthy man1 is        
self-developed1 and is  revealed by a   
resolute perception and recognition of  
what is necessary  and useful4          
,practical men and women avail          
themselves of it with  confidence4      
,where it is absent1 both sexes find    
anything necessary when  they desire it1
 and useful when it gives them pleasure4
    #bah    ,all men1 as they attain    
freedom1 give play to their errors4 ,the
 strong  do too much1 and the weak too  
little4    #bai    ,the conflict of the 
old1 the existing1 the continuing1 with 
development1  improvement1 and reform1  
is always the same4 ,order of every kind
 turns  at last to pedantry1 and to get 
rid of the one1 people destroy the      
other2 and so it goes on for a while1   
until people perceive that order  must  

be established anew4 ,classicism and    
,romanticism2 close corporations  and   
freedom of trade2 the maintenance of    
large estates and the division  of the  
land1--it is always the same conflict   
which ends by producing a  new one4 ,the
 best policy of those in power would be 
so to moderate this  conflict as to let 
it right itself without the destruction 
of either  element4 ,but this has not   
been granted to men1 and it seems not to
 be  the will of ,god4    #bbj    ,a    
great work limits us for the moment1    
because we feel it above our  powers2   
and only in so far as we afterwards     
incorporate it with our  culture1 and   
make it part of our mind and heart1 does
 it become a dear  and worthy object4   
#bba    ,it is no wonder that we all    
more or less delight in the mediocre1   
because it leaves us in peace3 it gives 
us the comfortable feeling of           
intercourse with what is like ourselves4
    #bbb    ,there is no use in         
reproving vulgarity1 for it never       

changes4    #bbc    ,we cannot escape a 
contradiction in ourselves2 we must try 
to resolve  it4 ,if the contradiction   
comes from others1 it does not affect   
us3 it is  their affair4    #bbd        
,there are many things in the world that
 are at once good and excellent1  but   
they do not come into contact4    #bbe  
,which is the best government8 ,that    
which teaches us to govern ourselves4   
#bbf    ,when men have to do with women1
 they get spun off like a distaff4      
#bbg    ,it may well be that a man is at
 times horribly threshed by misfortunes1
  public and private3 but the reckless  
flail of ,fate1 when it beats the  rich 
sheaves1 crushes only the straw2 and the
 corn feels nothing of it  and dances   
merrily on the floor1 careless whether  
its way is to the mill  or the furrow4  
#bbh    ,however probable it is that a  
desire may be fulfilled1 there is always
 a  doubt2 and so when the desire is    
realised1 it is always surprising4      
#bbi    ,absurdities presented with good

 taste rouse disgust and admiration4    
#bcj    ,of the best society it used to 
be said3 their speech instructs the     
mind1  and their silence the feelings4  
#bca    ,nothing is more terrible than  
ignorance in action4    #bcb    ,beauty 
and ,genius must be kept afar if one    
would avoid becoming their  slave4      
#bcc    ,we treat the aged with         
consideration1 as we treat children4    
#bcd    ,an old man loses one of the    
greatest of human privileges3 he is no  
more  judged by his peers4    #bce      
,in the matter of knowledge1 it has     
happened to me as to one who rises      
early1 and in the dark impatiently      
awaits the dawn1 and then the sun2  but 
is blinded when it appears4    #bcf     
,great primeval powers1 evolved in time 
or in eternity1 work on  unceasingly3   
whether to weal or to woe1 is a matter  
of chance4          ,,iv      #bcg      
,people often say to themselves in life 
that they should avoid a variety  of    
occupation1 and1 more particularly1 be  

the less willing to enter upon  new work
 the older they grow4 ,but it is easy to
 talk1 easy to give  advice to oneself  
and others4 ,to grow old is itself to   
enter upon a new  business2 all the     
circumstances change1 and a man must    
either cease  acting altogether1 or     
willingly and consciously take over the 
new rle4    #bch    ,of the ,absolute in
 the theoretical sense1 ,i do not       
venture to speak2 but  this ,i maintain3
 that if a man recognises it in its     
manifestation1 and  always keeps his    
gaze fixed upon it1 he will experience  
very great  reward4    #bci    ,to live 
in a great idea means to treat the      
impossible as though it were  possible4 
,it is just the same with a strong      
character2 and when an idea  and a      
character meet1 things arise which fill 
the world with wonder for  thousands of 
years4    #bdj    ,napoleon lived wholly
 in a great idea1 but he was unable to  
take  conscious hold of it4 ,after      
utterly disavowing all ideals and       

denying  them any reality1 he zealously 
strove to realise them4 ,his clear1     
incorruptible intellect could not1      
however1 tolerate such a perpetual      
conflict within2 and there is much value
 in the thoughts which he was           
compelled1 as it were1 to utter1 and    
which are expressed very peculiarly  and
 with much charm4    #bda    ,he        
considered the idea as a thing of the   
mind1 that had1 it is true1 no  reality1
 but still1 on passing away1 left a     
residuum--a caput  mortuum--to which    
some reality could not be altogether    
refused4 ,we may  think this a very     
perverse and material notion2 but when  
he entertained  his friends with the    
neverending consequences of his life and
 actions1  in full belief and confidence
 in them1 he expressed himself quite    
differently4 ,then1 indeed1 he was ready
 to admit that life produces  life2 that
 a fruitful act has effects to all time4
 ,he took pleasure in  confessing that  
he had given a great impulse1 a new     

direction1 to the  course of the world's
 affairs4    #bdb    ,it always remains 
a very remarkable fact that men whose   
whole  personality is almost all idea1  
are so extremely shy of all phantasy4   
,in  this case was ,hamann1 who could   
not bear the mention of things of       
another world4 ,he took occasion to     
express himself on this point in a      
certain paragraph1 which he wrote in    
fourteen different ways2 and still1     
apparently1 he was never quite satisfied
 with it4    ,two of these attempts have
 been preserved to us2 a third we have  
ourselves attempted1 which we are       
induced to print here by the preceding  
observations4    #bdc    ,man is placed 
as a real being in the midst of a real  
world1 and endowed  with such organs    
that he can perceive and produce the    
real and also the  possible4    ,all    
healthy men have the conviction of their
 own existence and of an  existence     
around them4 ,however1 even the brain   
contains a hollow spot1  that is to say1

 a place in which no object is mirrored2
 just as in the  eye itself there is a  
little spot that does not see4 ,if a man
 pays  particular attention to this spot
 and is absorbed in it1 he falls into a 
state of mental sickness1 has           
presentiments of things of another      
world1 which are1 in reality1 no things 
at all2 possessing neither form  nor    
limit1 but alarming him like dark1 empty
 tracts of night1 and  pursuing him as  
something more than phantoms1 if he does
 not tear  himself free from them4      
#bdd    ,to the several perversities of 
the day a man should always oppose only 
the great masses of universal history4  
#bde    ,no one can live much with      
children without finding that they      
always  react to any outward influence  
upon them4    #bdf    ,with any         
specially childish nature the reaction  
is even passionate1  while its action is
 energetic4    #bdg    ,that is why     
children's lives are a series of refined
 judgments1 not to  say prejudices2 and 

to efface a rapid but partial perception
 in order to  make way for a more       
general one1 time is necessary4 ,to bear
 this in mind  is one of the teacher's  
greatest duties4    #bdh    ,friendship 
can only be bred in practice and be     
maintained by practice4  ,affection1    
nay1 love itself1 is no help at all to  
friendship4 ,true1  active1 productive  
friendship consists in keeping equal    
pace in life3 in  my friend approving my
 aims1 while ,i approve his1 and in thus
 moving  forwards together steadfastly1 
however much our way of thought and life
  may vary4          ,v      #bdi    ,in
 the world people take a man at his own 
estimate2 but he must estimate  himself 
at something4 ,disagreeableness is more 
easily tolerated than  insignificance4  
#bej    ,you can force anything on      
society so long as it has no sequel4    
#bea    ,we do not learn to know men if 
they come to us2 we must go to them to  
find out what they are4    #beb    ,that
 we have many criticisms to make on     

those who visit us1 and that1 as  soon  
as they depart1 we pass no very amiable 
judgment upon them1 seems  to me almost 
natural2 for we have1 so to speak1 a    
right to measure them  by our own       
standard4 ,even intelligent and         
fair-minded men hardly refrain  from    
sharp censure on such occasions4    #bec
    ,but if1 on the contrary1 we have   
been in their homes1 and have seen them 
in their surroundings and habits and the
 circumstances which are  necessary and 
inevitable for them2 if we have seen the
 kind of influence  they exert on those 
around them1 or how they behave1 it is  
only  ignorance and ill-will that can   
find food for ridicule in what must     
appear to us in more than one sense     
worthy of respect4    #bed    ,what we  
call conduct and good manners obtains   
for us that which  otherwise is to be   
obtained only by force1 or not even by  
force4    #bee    ,women's society is   
the element of good manners4    #bef    
,how can the character1 the peculiar    

nature of a man1 be compatible with     
good manners8    #beg    ,it is through 
his good manners that a man's peculiar  
nature should be  made all the more     
conspicuous4 ,every one likes           
distinction1 but it  should not be      
disagreeable4    #beh    ,the most      
privileged position1 in life as in      
society1 is that of an  educated        
soldier4 ,rough warriors1 at any rate1  
remain true to their  character1 and as 
great strength is usually the cover for 
good nature1  we get on with them at    
need4    #bei    ,no one is more        
troublesome than an awkward civilian4   
,as his business is  not with anything  
brutal or coarse1 he might be expected  
to show  delicacy of feeling4    #bfj   
,when we live with people who have a    
delicate sense of what is fitting1  we  
get quite anxious about them if anything
 happens to disturb this  sense4    #bfa
    ,no one would come into a room with 
spectacles on his nose1 if he knew  that
 women at once lose any inclination to  

look at or talk to him4    #bfb    ,a   
familiar in the place of a respectful   
demeanour is always ridiculous4    #bfc 
,there is no outward sign of politeness 
that will be found to lack some  deep   
moral foundation4 ,the right kind of    
education would be that which  conveyed 
the sign and the foundation at the same 
time4    #bfd    ,a man's manners are   
the mirror in which he shows his        
portrait4    #bfc    ,there is a        
politeness of the heart1 and it is      
allied to love4 ,it  produces the most  
agreeable politeness of outward         
demeanour4    #bff    ,voluntary        
dependence is the best state1 and how   
should that be possible  without love8  
#bfg    ,we are never further from our  
wishes than when we fancy we possess the
  object of them4    #bfh    ,no one is 
more of a slave than he who thinks      
himself free without being  so4    #bfi 
,a man has only to declare himself free 
to feel at the same moment that  he is  
limited4 ,should he venture to declare  

himself limited1 he feels  himself free4
    #bgj    ,against the great          
superiority of another there is no      
remedy but love4    #bga    ,it is a    
terrible thing for an eminent man to be 
gloried in by fools4    #bgb    ,it is  
said that no man is a hero to his valet4
 ,that is only because a  hero can be   
recognised only by a hero4 ,the valet   
will probably know how  to appreciate   
his like1--his fellow-valet4    #bgc    
,there is no greater consolation for    
mediocrity than that the genius is  not 
immortal4    #bgd    ,the greatest men  
are linked to their age by some weak    
point4    #bge    ,we generally take men
 to be more dangerous than they are4    
#bgf    ,fools and wise folk are alike  
harmless4 ,it is the half-wise1 and the 
half-foolish1 who are the most          
dangerous4    #bgg    ,to see a         
difficult thing lightly handled gives us
 the impression of the  impossible4     
#bgh    ,difficulties increase the      
nearer we come to our aim4    #bgi      

,sowing is not so painful as reaping4   
#bhj    ,we are fond of looking to the  
future1 because our secret wishes make  
us  apt to turn in our favour the       
uncertainties which move about in it    
hither and thither4    #bha    ,it is   
not easy to be in any great assembly    
without thinking that the  chance which 
brings so many people together will also
 make us meet our  friends4    #bhb     
,a man may live never so retired a life 
but he becomes a debtor or a  creditor  
before he is aware of it4    #bhc    ,if
 anyone meets us who owes us a debt of  
gratitude1 it immediately  crosses our  
mind4 ,how often can we meet some one to
 whom we owe  gratitude1 without        
thinking of it6    #bhd    ,to          
communicate oneself is ,nature2 to      
receive a communication as it is  given 
is ,culture4    #bhe    ,no one would   
speak much in society if he were aware  
how often we  misunderstand others4     
#bhf    ,it is only because we have not 
understood a thing that we cannot repeat

  it without alteration4    #bhg    ,to 
make a long speech in the presence of   
others without flattering your          
audience1 is to rouse dislike4    #bhh  
,every word that we utter rouses its    
contrary4    #bhi    ,contradiction and 
flattery make1 both of them1 bad        
conversation4    #bij    ,the           
pleasantest society is that in which    
there exists a genial deference  amongst
 the members one towards another4       
#bia    ,by nothing do men show their   
character more than by the things they  
laugh at4    #bib    ,the ridiculous    
springs from a moral contrast innocently
 presented to the  senses4    #bic      
,the sensual man often laughs when there
 is nothing to laugh at4 ,whatever  it  
is that moves him1 he shows that he is  
pleased with himself4    #bid    ,an    
intelligent man finds almost everything 
ridiculous1 a wise man hardly  anything4
    #bie    ,a man well on in years was 
reproved for still troubling himself    
about  young women4 ',it is the only    

means1' he replied1 'of regaining one's 
youth2 and that is something every one  
wishes to do4'    #bif    ,a man does   
not mind being blamed for his faults1   
and being punished for  them1 and he    
patiently suffers much for the sake of  
them2 but he becomes  impatient if he is
 required to give them up4    #big      
,certain faults are necessary to the    
individual if he is to exist4 ,we       
should not like old friends to give up  
certain peculiarities4    #bih    ,it is
 said of a man that he will soon die1   
when he acts in any way  unlike himself4
    #bii    ,what kind of faults in     
ourselves should we retain1 nay1 even   
cultivate8  ,those which rather flatter 
other people than offend them4    #cjj  
,the passions are good or bad qualities1
 only intensified4    #cja    ,our      
passions are1 in truth1 like the        
phoenix4 ,when the old one burns  away1 
the new one rises out of its ashes at   
once4    #cjb    ,great passions are    
hopeless diseases4 ,that which could    

cure them is the  first thing to make   
them really dangerous4    #cjc          
,passion is enhanced and tempered by    
avowal4 ,in nothing1 perhaps1 is the    
middle course more desirable than in    
confidence and reticence towards  those 
we love4    #cjd    ,to sit in judgment 
on the departed is never likely to be   
equitable4 ,we  all suffer from life2   
who except ,god can call us to account8 
,let not  their faults and sufferings1  
but what they have accomplished and     
done1  occupy the survivors4    #cje    
,it is failings that show human nature1 
and merits that distinguish the         
individual2 faults and misfortunes we   
all have in common2 virtues belong  to  
each one separately4          ,,vi      
#cjf    ,the secret places in the way of
 life may not and cannot be revealed3   
there are rocks of offence on which     
every traveller must stumble4 ,but  the 
poet points to where they are4    #cjg  
,it would not be worth while to see     
seventy years if all the wisdom of  this

 world were foolishness with ,god4      
#cjh    ,the true is ,godlike3 we do not
 see it itself2 we must guess at it     
through its manifestations4    #cji     
,the real scholar learns how to evolve  
the unknown from the known1 and  draws  
near the master4    #caj    ,in the     
smithy the iron is softened by blowing  
up the fire1 and taking  the dross from 
the bar4 ,as soon as it is purified1 it 
is beaten and  pressed1 and becomes firm
 again by the addition of fresh water4  
,the same  thing happens to a man at the
 hands of his teacher4    #caa    ,what 
belongs to a man1 he cannot get rid of1 
even though he throws it  away4    #cab 
,of true religions there are only two3  
one of them recognises and  worships the
 ,holy that without form or shape dwells
 in and around us2  and the other       
recognises and worships it in its       
fairest form4 ,everything  that lies    
between these two is idolatry4    #cac  
,it is undeniable that in the           
,reformation the human mind tried to    

free  itself2 and the renaissance of    
,greek and ,roman antiquity brought     
about  the wish and longing for a freer1
 more seemly1 and elegant life4 ,the    
movement was favoured in no small degree
 by the fact that men's hearts  aimed at
 returning to a certain simple state of 
nature1 while the  imagination sought to
 concentrate itself4    #cad    ,the    
,saints were all at once driven from    
heaven2 and senses1 thought1 and  heart 
were turned from a divine mother with a 
tender child1 to the grown  man doing   
good and suffering evil1 who was later  
transfigured into a  being half-divine  
in its nature1 and then recognised and  
honoured as ,god  himself4 ,he stood    
against a background where the ,creator 
had opened out  the universe2 a         
spiritual influence went out from him2  
his sufferings  were adopted as an      
example1 and his transfiguration was the
 pledge of  everlastingness4    #cae    
,as a coal is revived by incense1 so    
prayer revives the hopes of the  heart4 

#caf    ,from a strict point of view we 
must have a reformation of ourselves    
every day1 and protest against others1  
even though it be in no religious       
sense4    #cag    ,it should be our     
earnest endeavour to use words          
coinciding as closely as  possible with 
what we feel1 see1 think1 experience1   
imagine1 and reason4  ,it is an         
endeavour which we cannot evade1 and    
which is daily to be  renewed4    ,let  
every man examine himself1 and he will  
find this a much harder task  than he   
might suppose2 for1 unhappily1 a man    
usually takes words as mere             
make-shifts2 his knowledge and his      
thought are in most cases better  than  
his method of expression4    ,false1    
irrelevant1 and futile ideas may arise  
in ourselves and others1  or find their 
way into us from without4 ,let us       
persist in the effort to  remove them as
 far as we can1 by plain and honest     
purpose4    #cah    ,as we grow older1  
the ordeals grow greater4    #cai       

,where ,i cannot be moral1 my power is  
gone4    #cbj    ,a man is not deceived 
by others1 he deceives himself4    #cba 
,laws are all made by old people and by 
men4 ,youths and women want the         
exceptions1 old people the rules4       
#cbb    ,it is not the intelligent man  
who rules1 but intelligence2 not the    
wise  man1 but wisdom4    #cbc    ,to   
praise a man is to put oneself on his   
level4    #cbd    ,it is not enough to  
know1 we must also apply2 it is not     
enough to will1  we must also do4       
#cbe    ,chinese1 ,indian1 and ,egyptian
 antiquities are never more than        
curiosities2 it is well to make         
acquaintance with them2 but in point of 
moral and sthetic culture they can help 
us little4    #cbf    ,the ,german runs 
no greater danger than to advance with  
and by the  example of his neighbours4  
,there is perhaps no nation that is     
fitter for  the process of              
self-development2 so that it has proved 
of the greatest  advantage to ,germany  

to have obtained the notice of the world
 so late4    #cbg    ,even men of       
insight do not see that they try to     
explain things which lie  at the        
foundation of our experience1 and in    
which we must simply  acquiesce4    ,yet
 still the attempt may have its         
advantage1 as otherwise we should  break
 off our researches too soon4    #cbh   
,from this time forward1 if a man does  
not apply himself to some art or        
handiwork1 he will be in a bad way4 ,in 
the rapid changes of the world1         
knowledge is no longer a furtherance2 by
 the time a man has taken note  of      
everything1 he has lost himself4    #cbi
    ,besides1 in these days the world   
forces universal culture upon us1 and   
so we need not trouble ourselves further
 about it2 we must appropriate  some    
particular culture4    #ccj    ,the     
greatest difficulties lie where we do   
not look for them4    #cca    ,our      
interest in public events is mostly the 
merest philistinism4    #ccb    ,nothing

 is more highly to be prized than the   
value of each day4    #ccc    ,pereant  
qui ante nos nostra dixerunt6 ,this is  
so strange an utterance1  that it could 
only have come from one who fancied     
himself autochthonous4  ,the man who    
looks upon it as an honour to be        
descended from wise  ancestors1 will    
allow them at least as much common-sense
 as he allows  himself4    #ccd         
,strictly speaking1 everything depends  
upon a man's intentions2 where  these   
exist1 thoughts appear2 and as the      
intentions are1 so are the  thoughts4   
#cce    ,if a man lives long in a high  
position1 he does not1 it is true1      
experience all that a man can           
experience2 but he experiences things   
like  them1 and perhaps some things that
 have no parallel elsewhere4            
,,vii      #ccf    ,the first and last  
thing that is required of genius is love
 of truth4    #ccg    ,to be and remain 
true to oneself and others1 is to       
possess the noblest  attribute of the   

greatest talents4    #cch    ,great     
talents are the best means of           
conciliation4    #cci    ,the action of 
genius is in a way ubiquitous3 towards  
general truths  before experience1 and  
towards particular truths after it4     
#cdj    ,an active scepticism is one    
which constantly aims at overcoming     
itself1  and arriving by means of       
regulated experience at a kind of       
conditioned  certainty4    #cda    ,the 
general nature of the sceptical mind is 
its tendency to inquire  whether any    
particular predicate really attaches to 
any particular  object2 and the purpose 
of the inquiry is safely to apply in    
practice  what has thus been discovered 
and proved4    #cdb    ,the mind endowed
 with active powers and keeping with a  
practical object  to the task that lies 
nearest1 is the worthiest there is on   
earth4    #cdc    ,perfection is the    
measure of heaven1 and the wish to be   
perfect the  measure of man4    #cdd    
,not only what is born with him1 but    

also what he acquires1 makes the  man4  
#cde    ,a man is well equipped for all 
the real necessities of life if he      
trusts  his senses1 and so cultivates   
them that they remain worthy of being   
trusted4    #cdf    ,the senses do not  
deceive2 it is the judgment that        
deceives4    #cdg    ,the lower animal  
is taught by its organs2 man teaches his
 organs1 and  dominates them4    #cdh   
,all direct invitation to live up to    
ideals is of doubtful value1            
particularly if addressed to women4     
,whatever the reason of it may be1 a    
man of any importance collects round him
 a seraglio of a more or less           
religious1 moral1 and sthetic character4
    #cdi    ,when a great idea enters   
the world as a ,gospel1 it becomes an   
offence to  the multitude1 which        
stagnates in pedantry2 and to those who 
have much  learning but little depth1 it
 is folly4    #cej    ,every idea       
appears at first as a strange visitor1  
and when it begins to  be realised1 it  

is hardly distinguishable from phantasy 
and phantastery4    #cea    ,this it is 
that has been called1 in a good and in a
 bad sense1 ideology2  and this is why  
the ideologist is so repugnant to the   
hard-working1  practical man of every   
day4    #ceb    ,you may recognise the  
utility of an idea1 and yet not quite   
understand  how to make a perfect use of
 it4    #cec    ,credo ,deum6 ,that is a
 fine1 a worthy thing to say2 but to    
recognise  ,god where and as he reveals 
himself1 is the only true bliss on      
earth4    #ced    ,kepler said3 ',my    
wish is that ,i may perceive the ,god   
whom ,i find  everywhere in the external
 world1 in like manner also within and  
inside  me4' ,the good man was not aware
 that in that very moment the divine in 
him stood in the closest connection with
 the divine in the ,universe4    #cee   
,what is predestination8 ,it is this3   
,god is mightier and wiser than we  are1
 and so he does with us as he pleases4  
#cef    ,toleration should1 strictly    

speaking1 be only a passing mood2 it    
ought  to lead to acknowledgment and    
appreciation4 ,to tolerate a person is  
to  affront him4    #ceg    ,faith1     
,love1 and ,hope once felt1 in a quiet  
sociable hour1 a plastic  impulse in    
their nature2 they worked together and  
created a lovely  image1 a ,pandora in  
the higher sense1 ,patience4    #ceh    
',i stumbled over the roots of the tree 
which ,i planted4' ,it must have  been  
an old forester who said that4    #cei  
,a leaf blown by the wind often looks   
like a bird4    #cfj    ,does the       
sparrow know how the stork feels8       
#cfa    ,lamps make oil-spots1 and      
candles want snuffing2 it is only the   
light of  heaven that shines pure and   
leaves no stain4    #cfb    ,if you miss
 the first button-hole1 you will not    
succeed in buttoning up  your coat4     
#cfc    ,a burnt child dreads the fire2 
an old man who has often been singed is 
afraid of warming himself4    #cfd      
,it is not worth while to do anything   

for the world that we have with us1  as 
the existing order may in a moment pass 
away4 ,it is for the past and  the      
future that we must work3 for the past1 
to acknowledge its merits2  for the     
future1 to try to increase its value4   
#cfe    ,let every man ask himself with 
which of his faculties he can and will  
somehow influence his age4    #cff      
,let no one think that people have      
waited for him as for the ,saviour4     
#cfg    ,character in matters great and 
small consists in a man steadily        
pursuing  the things of which he feels  
himself capable4    #cfh    ,the man who
 wants to be active and has to be so1   
need only think of what  is fitting at  
the moment1 and he will make his way    
without difficulty4  ,this is where     
women have the advantage1 if they       
understand it4    #cfi    ,the moment is
 a kind of public2 a man must deceive it
 into believing  that he is doing       
something2 then it leaves us alone to go
 our way in  secret2 whereat its        

grandchildren cannot fail to be         
astonished4    #cgj    ,there are men   
who put their knowledge in the place of 
insight4    #cga    ,in some states1 as 
a consequence of the violent movements  
experienced in  almost all directions1  
there has come about a certain          
overpressure in  the system of          
education1 the harm of which will be    
more generally felt  hereafter2 though  
even now it is perfectly well recognised
 by capable  and honest authorities4    
,capable men live in a sort of despair  
over the  fact that they are bound by   
the rules of their office to teach and  
communicate things which they look upon 
as useless and hurtful4    #cgb         
,there is no sadder sight than the      
direct striving after the  unconditioned
 in this thoroughly conditioned world4  
#cgc    ,before the ,revolution it was  
all effort2 afterwards it all changed to
  demand4    #cgd    ,can a nation      
become ripe8 ,that is a strange         
question4 ,i would answer1  ,yes6 if all

 the men could be born thirty years of  
age4 ,but as youth will  always be too  
forward and old age too backward1 the   
really mature man is  always hemmed in  
between them1 and has to resort to      
strange devices to  make his way        
through4    #cge    ,it does not look   
well for monarchs to speak through the  
press1 for power  should act and not    
talk4 ,the projects of the liberal party
 always bear  being read3 the man who is
 overpowered may at least express his   
views in  speech1 because he cannot act4
 ,when ,mazarin was shown some satirical
  songs on a new tax1 ',let them sing1' 
said he1 'as long as they pay4'    #cgf 
,vanity is a desire of personal glory1  
the wish to be appreciated1  honoured1  
and run after1 not because of one's     
personal qualities1  merits1 and        
achievements1 but because of one's      
individual existence4 ,at  best1        
therefore1 it is a frivolous beauty whom
 it befits4    #cgg    ,the most        
important matters of feeling as of      

reason1 of experience as of  reflection1
 should be treated of only by word of   
mouth4 ,the spoken word  at once dies if
 it is not kept alive by some other word
 following on it  and suited to the     
hearer4 ,observe what happens in social 
converse4 ,if  the word is not dead when
 it reaches the hearer1 he murders it at
 once  by a contradiction1 a            
stipulation1 a condition1 a digression1 
an  interruption1 and all the thousand  
tricks of conversation4 ,with the       
written word the case is still worse4   
,no one cares to read anything to  which
 he is not already to some extent       
accustomed3 he demands the known  and   
the familiar under an altered form4     
,still the written word has this        
advantage1 that it lasts and can await  
the time when it is allowed to  take    
effect4    #cgh    ,both what is        
reasonable and what is unreasonable have
 to undergo the  like contradiction4    
#cgi    ,dialectic is the culture of the
 spirit of contradiction1 which is given

  to man that he may learn to perceive  
the differences between things4    #chj 
,with those who are really of like      
disposition with himself a man cannot   
long be at variance2 he will always come
 to an agreement again4 ,with  those who
 are really of adverse disposition1 he  
may in vain try to  preserve harmony2 he
 will always come to a separation again4
    #cha    ,opponents fancy they refute
 us when they repeat their own opinion  
and  pay no attention to ours4    #chb  
,people who contradict and dispute      
should now and then remember that not   
every mode of speech is intelligible to 
every one4    #chc    ,every man hears  
only what he understands4    #chd    ,i 
am quite prepared to find that many a   
reader will disagree with me2  but when 
he has a thing before him in black and  
white1 he must let it  stand4 ,another  
reader may perhaps take up the very same
 copy and agree  with me4    #che       
,the truest liberality is appreciation4 
#chf    ,for the strenuous man the      

difficulty is to recognise the merits of
 elder  contemporaries and not let      
himself be hindered by their defects4   
#chg    ,some men think about the       
defects of their friends1 and there is  
nothing  to be gained by it4 ,i have    
always paid attention to the merits of  
my  enemies1 and found it an advantage4 
#chh    ,there are many men who fancy   
they understand whatever they           
experience4    #chi    ,the public must 
be treated like women3 they must be told
 absolutely  nothing but what they like 
to hear4    #cij    ,every age of man   
has a certain philosophy answering to   
it4 ,the child  comes out as a realist3 
he finds himself as convinced that pears
 and  apples exist as that he himself   
exists4 ,the youth in a storm of inner  
passion is forced to turn his gaze      
within1 and feel in advance what he  is 
going to be3 he is changed into an      
idealist4 ,but the man has every  reason
 to become a sceptic3 he does well to   
doubt whether the means he  has chosen  

to his end are the right ones4 ,before  
and during action he  has every reason  
for keeping his understanding mobile1   
that he may not  afterwards have to     
grieve over a false choice4 ,yet when he
 grows old he  will always confess      
himself a mystic3 he sees that so much  
seems to  depend on chance2 that folly  
succeeds and wisdom fails2 that good and
  evil fortune are brought unexpectedly 
to the same level2 so it is and so  it  
has been1 and old age acquiesces in that
 which is and was and will  be4    #cia 
,when a man grows old he must           
consciously remain at a certain stage4  
#cib    ,it does not become an old man  
to run after the fashion1 either in     
thought or in dress4 ,but he must know  
where he is1 and what the others  are   
aiming at4    ,what is called fashion is
 the tradition of the moment4 ,all      
tradition  carries with it a certain    
necessity for people to put themselves  
on a  level with it4    #cic    ,we have
 long been busy with the critique of    

reason4 ,i should like to see  a        
critique of common-sense4 ,it would be a
 real benefit to mankind if we  could   
convincingly prove to the ordinary      
intelligence how far it can go2  and    
that is just as much as it fully        
requires for life on this earth4    #cid
    ,the thinker makes a great mistake  
when he asks after cause and effect3    
they both together make up the          
indivisible phenomenon4    #cie    ,all 
practical men try to bring the world    
under their hands2 all  thinkers1 under 
their heads4 ,how far each succeeds1    
they may both see  for themselves4      
#cif    ,shall we say that a man thinks 
only when he cannot think out that of   
which he is thinking8    #cig    ,what  
is invention or discovery8 ,it is the   
conclusion of what we were  looking for4
    #cih    ,it is with history as with 
nature and with everything of any depth1
 it  may be past1 present1 or future3   
the further we seriously pursue it1 the 
more difficult are the problems that    

appear4 ,the man who is not afraid  of  
them1 but attacks them bravely1 has a   
feeling of higher culture and  greater  
ease the further he progresses4    #cii 
,every phenomenon is within our reach if
 we treat it as an inclined  plane1     
which is of easy ascent1 though the     
thick end of the wedge may be  steep and
 inaccessible4    #djj    ,if a man     
would enter upon some course of         
knowledge1 he must either be  deceived  
or deceive himself1 unless external     
necessity irresistibly  determines him4 
,who would become a physician if1 at one
 and the same  time1 he saw before him  
all the horrible sights that await him8 
#dja    ,how many years must a man do   
nothing before he can at all know what  
is  to be done and how to do it6    #djb
    ,duty3 where a man loves what he    
commands himself to do4                 
,,literature ,,and ,,art      #djc      
,when ,madame ,roland was on the        
scaffold1 she asked for pen and paper1  
to  note the peculiar thoughts that     

hovered about her on the last journey4  
,it is a pity they were refused1 for in 
a tranquil mind thoughts rise up  at the
 close of life hitherto unthinkable2    
like blessed inward voices1  alighting  
in glory on the summits of the past4    
#djd    ,literature is a fragment of    
fragments3 the least of what happened   
and  was spoken1 has been written2 and  
of the things that have been written1   
very few have been preserved4    #dje   
,and yet1 with all the fragmentary      
nature of literature1 we find thousand  
fold repetition2 which shows how limited
 is man's mind and destiny4    #djf     
,excellent work is unfathomable1        
approach it as you will4    #djg    ,it 
is not language in itself which is      
correct or forcible or elegant1  but the
 mind that is embodied in it2 and so it 
is not for a man to  determine whether  
he will give his calculations or        
speeches or poems the  desired          
qualities3 the question is whether      
,nature has given him the  intellectual 

and moral qualities which fit him for   
the work1--the  intellectual power of   
observation and insight1 the moral power
 of  repelling the evil spirits that    
might hinder him from paying respect to 
truth4    #djh    ,the appeal to        
posterity springs from the pure1 strong 
feeling of the  existence of something  
imperishable2 something that1 even      
though it be  not at once recognised1   
will in the end be gratified by finding 
the  minority turn into a majority4     
#dji    ,when a new literature succeeds1
 it obscures the effect of an earlier   
one1 and its own effect predominates2 so
 that it is well1 from time to  time1 to
 look back4 ,what is original in us is  
best preserved and  quickened if we do  
not lose sight of those who have gone   
before us4    #daj    ,the most original
 authors of modern times are so1 not    
because they  produce what is new1 but  
only because they are able to say things
 the  like of which seem never to have  
been said before4    #daa    ,thus the  

best sign of originality lies in taking 
up a subject and then  developing it so 
fully as to make every one confess that 
he would hardly  have found so much in  
it4    #dab    ,there are many thoughts 
that come only from general culture1    
like buds  from green branches4 ,when   
roses bloom1 you see them blooming      
everywhere4    #dac    ,lucidity is a   
due distribution of light and shade4'   
,hamann4    #dad    ,a man who has no   
acquaintance with foreign languages     
knows nothing of  his own4    #dae      
,we must remember that there are many   
men who1 without being productive1  are 
anxious to say something important1 and 
the results are most  curious4    #daf  
,deep and earnest thinkers are in a     
difficult position with regard to the   
public4    #dag    ,some books seem to  
have been written1 not to teach us      
anything1 but to  let us know that the  
author has known something4    #dah     
,an author can show no greater respect  
for his public than by never  bringing  

it what it expects1 but what he himself 
thinks right and proper  in that stage  
of his own and others' culture in which 
for the time he  finds himself4    #dai 
,the so-called ,nature-poets are men of 
active talent1 with a fresh  stimulus   
and reaction from an over-cultured1     
stagnant1 mannered epoch of  art4 ,they 
cannot avoid commonplace4    #dbj       
,productions are now possible which1    
without being bad1 have no value4  ,they
 have no value1 because they contain    
nothing2 and they are not bad1  because 
a general form of good-workmanship is   
present to the author's  mind4    #dba  
,all lyrical work must1 as a whole1 be  
perfectly intelligible1 but in  some    
particulars a little unintelligible4    
#dbb    ,a romance is a subjective epic 
in which the author begs leave to treat 
the world after his own ideas4 ,the only
 question is1 whether he has any  ideas2
 the rest will follow of itself4    #dbc
    ,subjective or so-called sentimental
 poetry has now been admitted to an     

equality with objective and descriptive4
 ,this was inevitable2 because          
otherwise the whole of modern poetry    
would have to be discarded4 ,it is  now 
obvious that when men of truly poetical 
genius appear1 they will  describe more 
of the particular feelings of the inner 
life than of the  general facts of the  
great life of the world4 ,this has      
already taken  place to such a degree   
that we have a poetry without figures of
 speech1  which can by no means be      
refused all praise4    #dbd             
,superstition is the poetry of life1 and
 so it does not hurt the poet to  be    
superstitious4    #dbe    ,that glorious
 hymn1 ,veni ,creator ,spiritus1 is     
really an appeal to  genius4 ,that is   
why it speaks so powerfully to men of   
intellect and  power4    #dbf           
,translators are like busy match-makers3
 they sing the praises of some          
half-veiled beauty1 and extol her       
charms1 and arouse an irresistible      
longing for the original4    #dbg    ,a 

,spinoza in poetry becomes a            
,machiavelli in philosophy4    #dbh     
,against the three unities there is     
nothing to be said1 if the subject is   
very simple2 but there are times when   
thrice three unities1 skilfully         
interwoven1 produce a very pleasant     
effect4    #dbi    ,the sentimentality  
of the ,english is humorous and tender2 
of the ,french1  popular and pathetic2  
of the ,germans1 nave and realistic4    
#dcj    ,mysticism is the scholastic of 
the heart1 the dialectic of the         
feelings4    #dca    ,if a man sets out 
to reproach an author with obscurity1 he
 should first  of all examine his own   
mind1 to see if he is himself all       
clearness  within4 ,twilight makes even 
plain writing illegible4    #dcb    ,it 
is with books as with new acquaintances4
 ,at first we are highly  delighted1 if 
we find a general agreement1--if we are 
pleasantly moved  on any of the chief   
sides of our existence4 ,with a closer  
acquaintance  differences come to light2

 and then reasonable conduct mainly     
consists  in not shrinking back at once1
 as may happen in youth1 but in keeping 
firm hold of the things in which we     
agree1 and being quite clear about  the 
things in which we differ1 without on   
that account desiring any  union4       
#dcc    ,in psychological reflection the
 greatest difficulty is this3 that inner
  and outer must always be viewed in    
parallel lines1 or1 rather1  interwoven4
 ,it is a continual systole and         
diastole1 an inspiration and  an        
expiration of the living soul4 ,if this 
cannot be put into words1 it  should be 
carefully marked and noted4    #dcd     
,my relations with ,schiller rested on  
the decided tendency of both of us      
towards a single aim1 and our common    
activity rested on the diversity of  the
 means by which we endeavoured to attain
 that aim4    #dce    ,once when a      
slight difference was mentioned between 
us1 of which ,i was  reminded by a      
passage in a letter of his1 ,i made the 

following  reflections3 ,there is a     
great difference between a poet seeking 
the  particular for the universal1 and  
seeing the universal in the  particular4
 ,the one gives rise to ,allegory1 where
 the particular serves  only as instance
 or example of the general2 but the     
other is the true  nature of ,poetry1   
namely1 the expression of the particular
 without any  thought of1 or reference  
to1 the general4 ,if a man grasps the   
particular  vividly1 he also grasps the 
general1 without being aware of it at   
the  time2 or he may make the discovery 
long afterwards4    #dcf    ,there may  
be eclectic philosophers1 but not an    
eclectic philosophy4    #dcg    ,but    
every one is an eclectic who1 out of the
 things that surround and  take place   
about him1 appropriates what is suited  
to his nature2 and  this is what is     
meant by culture and progress1 in       
matters of theory or  practice4    #dch 
,various maxims of the ancients1 which  
we are wont to repeat again and  again1 

had a meaning quite different from that 
which is apt to attach to  them in later
 times4    #dci    ,the saying that no  
one who is unacquainted with or a       
stranger to  geometry should enter the  
philosopher's school1 does not mean that
 a man  must become a mathematician to  
attain the wisdom of the world4    #ddj 
,geometry is here taken in its primary  
elements1 such as are contained in      
,euclid and laid before every beginner2 
and then it is the most perfect         
propdeutic and introduction to          
philosophy4    #dda    ,when a boy      
begins to understand that an invisible  
point must always come  before a visible
 one1 and that the shortest way between 
two points is a  straight line1 before  
he can draw it on his paper with a      
pencil1 he  experiences a certain pride 
and pleasure4 ,and he is not wrong2 for 
he  has the source of all thought opened
 to him2 idea and reality1 potentia  et 
actu1 are become clear2 the philosopher 
has no new discovery to  bring him2 as a

 mathematician1 he has found the basis  
of all thought for  himself4    #ddb    
,and if we turn to that significant     
utterance1 ,know thyself1 we must  not  
explain it in an ascetic sense4 ,it is  
in nowise the self-knowledge  of our    
modern hypochondrists1 humorists1 and   
self-tormentors4 ,it simply  means3 pay 
some attention to yourself2 take note of
 yourself2 so that  you may know how you
 come to stand towards those like you   
and towards  the world4 ,this involves  
no psychological torture2 every capable 
man  knows and feels what it means4 ,it 
is a piece of good advice which every   
one will find of the greatest advantage 
in practice4    #ddc    ,let us remember
 how great the ancients were2 and       
especially how the  ,socratic school    
holds up to us the source and standard  
of all life and  action1 and bids us not
 indulge in empty speculation1 but live 
and do4    #ddd    ,so long as our      
scholastic education takes us back to   
antiquity and  furthers the study of the

 ,greek and ,latin languages1 we may    
congratulate  ourselves that these      
studies1 so necessary for the higher    
culture1 will  never disappear4    #dde 
,if we set our gaze on antiquity and    
earnestly study it1 in the desire to    
form ourselves thereon1 we get the      
feeling as if it were only then that  we
 really became men4    #ddf    ,the     
pedagogue1 in trying to write and speak 
,latin1 has a higher and  grander idea  
of himself than would be permissible in 
ordinary life4    #ddg    ,in the       
presence of antiquity1 the mind that is 
susceptible to poetry and  art feels    
itself placed in the most pleasing ideal
 state of nature2 and  even to this day 
the ,homeric hymns have the power of    
freeing us1 at any  rate1 for moments1  
from the frightful burden which the     
tradition of  several thousand years has
 rolled upon us4    #ddh    ,there is no
 such thing as patriotic art and        
patriotic science4 ,both art  and       
science belong1 like all things great   

and good1 to the whole world1  and can  
be furthered only by a free and general 
interchange of ideas  among             
contemporaries1 with continual reference
 to the heritage of the  past as it is  
known to us4    #ddi    ,poetical talent
 is given to peasant as well as to      
knight2 all that is  required is that   
each shall grasp his position and treat 
it worthily4    #dej    ,an historic    
sense means a sense so cultured that1 in
 valuing the deserts  and merits of its 
own time1 it takes account also of the  
past4    #dea    ,the best that history 
gives us is the enthusiasm it arouses4  
#deb    ,the historian's duty is        
twofold3 first towards himself1 then    
towards his  readers4 ,as regards       
himself1 he must carefully examine into 
the things  that could have happened2   
and1 for the reader's sake1 he must     
determine  what actually did happen4    
,his action towards himself is a matter 
between  himself and his colleagues2 but
 the public must not see into the secret

  that there is little in history which 
can be said to be positively            
determined4    #dec    ,the historian's 
duty is to separate the true from the   
false1 the certain  from the uncertain1 
and the doubtful from that which cannot 
be accepted4    #ded    ,it is seldom   
that any one of great age becomes       
historical to himself1  and finds his   
contemporaries become historical to him1
 so that he  neither cares nor is able  
to argue with any one4    #dee    ,on a 
closer examination of the matter1 it    
will be found that the  historian does  
not easily grasp history as something   
historical4 ,in  whatever age he may    
live1 the historian always writes as    
though he  himself had been present at  
the time of which he treats1 instead of 
simply narrating the facts and movements
 of that time4 ,even the mere           
chronicler only points more or less to  
his own limitations1 or the             
peculiarities of his town or monastery  
or age4    #def    ,we really learn only

 from those books which we cannot       
criticise4 ,the  author of a book which 
we could criticise would have to learn  
from us4    #deg    ,that is the reason 
why the ,bible will never lose its      
power2 because1 as  long as the world   
lasts1 no one can stand up and say3 ,i  
grasp it as a  whole and understand all 
the parts of it4 ,but we say humbly3 as 
a whole  it is worthy of respect1 and in
 all its parts it is applicable4    #deh
    ,there is and will be much          
discussion as to the use and harm of    
circulating the ,bible4 ,one thing is   
clear to me3 mischief will result1  as  
heretofore1 by using it phantastically  
as a system of dogma2 benefit1  as      
heretofore1 by a loving acceptance of   
its teachings4    #dei    ,i am         
convinced that the ,bible will always be
 more beautiful the more it  is         
understood2 the more1 that is1 we see   
and observe that every word  which we   
take in a general sense and apply       
specially to ourselves1 had1  under     

certain circumstances of time and place1
 a peculiar1 special1 and  directly     
individual reference4    #dfj    ,the   
incurable evil of religious controversy 
is that while one party  wants to       
connect the highest interest of humanity
 with fables and  phrases1 the other    
tries to rest it on things that satisfy 
no one4    #dfa    ,if one has not read 
the newspapers for some months and then 
reads them  all together1 one sees1 as  
one never saw before1 how much time is  
wasted  with this kind of literature4   
#dfb    ,the classical is health2 and   
the romantic1 disease4    #dfc    ,ovid 
remained classical even in exile3 it is 
not in himself that he sees  misfortune1
 but in his banishment from the         
metropolis of the world4    #dfd    ,the
 romantic is already fallen into its own
 abysm4 ,it is hard to imagine  anything
 more degraded than the worst of the new
 productions4    #dfe    ,bodies which  
rot while they are still alive1 and are 
edified by the  detailed contemplation  

of their own decay2 dead men who remain 
in the  world for the ruin of others1   
and feed their death on the living1--to 
this have come our makers of literature4
    ,when the same thing happened in    
antiquity1 it was only as a strange     
token of some rare disease2 but with the
 moderns the disease has become  endemic
 and epidemic4    #dff    ,literature   
decays only as men become more and more 
corrupt4    #dfg    ,what a day it is   
when we must envy the men in their      
graves6    #dfh    ,the things that are 
true1 good1 excellent1 are simple and   
always alike1  whatever their appearance
 may be4 ,but the error that we blame is
  extremely manifold and varying2 it is 
in conflict not only with the good  and 
the true1 but also with itself2 it is   
self-contradictory4 ,thus it is  that   
the words of blame in our literature    
must necessarily outnumber the  words of
 praise4    #dfi    ,the ,greeks1 whose 
poetry and rhetoric was of a simple and 
positive  character1 express approval   

more often than disapproval4 ,with the  
,latin  writers it is the contrary2 and 
the more poetry and the arts of speech  
decay1 the more will blame swell and    
praise shrink4    #dgj    ',what are    
tragedies but the versified passions of 
people who make ,heaven  knows what out 
of the external world8'    #dga         
,there are certain empirical enthusiasts
 who are quite right in showing  their  
enthusiasm over new productions that are
 good2 but they are as  ecstatic as if  
there were no other good work in the    
world at all4    #dgb    ,in ,sakontala 
the poet appears in his highest         
function4 ,as the  representative of the
 most natural condition of things1 the  
finest mode  of life1 the purest moral  
endeavour1 the worthiest majesty1 and   
the most  solemn worship1 he ventures on
 common and ridiculous contrasts4       
#dgc    ,shakespeare's ,henry ,,iv4 ,if 
everything were lost that has ever been 
preserved to us of this kind of writing1
 the arts of poetry and rhetoric  could 

be completely restored out of this one  
play4    #dgd    ,shakespeare's finest  
dramas are wanting here and there in    
facility3 they  are something more than 
they should be1 and for that very reason
  indicate the great poet4    #dge      
,shakespeare is dangerous reading for   
budding talents3 he compels them to     
reproduce him1 and they fancy they are  
producing themselves4    #dgf    ,yorick
 ,sterne was the finest spirit that ever
 worked4 ,to read him is to  attain a   
fine feeling of freedom2 his humour is  
inimitable1 and it is  not every kind of
 humour that frees the soul4    #dgg    
,the peculiar value of so-called popular
 ballads is that their motives  are     
drawn direct from nature4 ,this1        
however1 is an advantage of which  the  
poet of culture could also avail        
himself1 if he knew how to do it4       
#dgh    ,but in popular ballads there is
 always this advantage1 that in the art 
of saying things shortly uneducated men 
are always better skilled than  those   

who are in the strict sense of the word 
educated4    #dgi    ,gemth  ,heart4    
,the translator must proceed until he   
reaches the  untranslatable2 and then   
only will he have an idea of the foreign
 nation  and the foreign tongue4    #dhj
    ,when we say of a landscape that it 
has a romantic character1 it is the     
secret feeling of the sublime taking the
 form of the past1 or1 what is  the same
 thing1 of solitude1 absence1 or        
seclusion4    #dha    ,the ,beautiful is
 a manifestation of secret laws of      
nature1 which1  without its presence1   
would never have been revealed4    #dhb 
,it is said3 ,artist1 study nature6 ,but
 it is no trifle to develop the  noble  
out of the commonplace1 or beauty out of
 uniformity4    #dhc    ,when ,nature   
begins to reveal her open secret to a   
man1 he feels an  irresistible longing  
for her worthiest interpreter1 ,art4    
#dhd    ,for all other ,arts we must    
make some allowance2 but to ,greek ,art 
alone  we are always debtors4    #dhe   

,there is no surer way of evading the   
world than by ,art2 and no surer way  of
 uniting with it than by ,art4    #dhf  
,even in the moments of highest         
happiness and deepest misery we need the
  ,artist4    #dhg    ,false tendencies 
of the senses are a kind of desire after
 realism1  always better than that false
 tendency which expresses itself as     
idealistic longing4    #dhh    ,the     
dignity of ,art appears perhaps most    
conspicuously in ,music2 for in  ,music 
there is no material to be deducted4 ,it
 is wholly form and  intrinsic value1   
and it raises and ennobles all that it  
expresses4    #dhi    ,it is only by    
,art1 and especially by ,poetry1 that   
the imagination is  regulated4 ,nothing 
is more frightful than imagination      
without taste4    #dij    ,if we were to
 despise ,art on the ground that it is  
an imitation of  ,nature1 it might be   
answered that ,nature also imitates much
 else2  further1 that ,art does not     
exactly imitate that which can be seen  

by the  eyes1 but goes back to that     
element of reason of which ,nature      
consists  and according to which ,nature
 acts4    #dia    ,further1 the ,arts   
also produce much out of themselves1    
and1 on the other  hand1 add much where 
,nature fails in perfection1 in that    
they possess  beauty in themselves4 ,so 
it was that ,pheidias could sculpture a 
god  although he had nothing that could 
be seen by the eye to imitate1 but      
grasped the appearance which ,zeus      
himself would have if he were to come   
before our eyes4    #dib    ,art rests  
upon a kind of religious sense3 it is   
deeply and ineradicably  in earnest4    
,thus it is that ,art so willingly goes 
hand in hand with  ,religion4    #dic   
,a noble philosopher spoke of           
architecture as frozen music2 and it was
  inevitable that many people should    
shake their heads over his remark4 ,we  
believe that no better repetition of    
this fine thought can be given than  by 
calling architecture a speechless music4

    #did    ,art is essentially noble2  
therefore the artist has nothing to fear
 from  a low or common subject4 ,nay1 by
 taking it up1 he ennobles it2 and so it
  is that we see the greatest artists   
boldly exercising their sovereign       
rights4    #die    ,in every artist     
there is a germ of daring1 without which
 no talent is  conceivable4    #dif     
,all the artists who are already known  
to me from so many sides1 ,i  propose to
 consider exclusively from the ethical  
side2 to explain from  the              
subject-matter and method of their work 
the part played therein by  time and    
place1 nation and master1 and their own 
indestructible  personality2 to mould   
them to what they became and to preserve
 them in  what they were4    #dig       
,art is a medium of what no tongue can  
utter2 and thus it seems a piece  of    
folly to try to convey its meaning      
afresh by means of words4 ,but1 by      
trying to do so1 the understanding      
gains2 and this1 again1 benefits the    

faculty in practice4    #dih    ,an     
artist who produces valuable work is not
 always able to give an  account of his 
own or others' performances4    #dii    
,we know of no world except in relation 
to mankind2 and we wish for no  ,art    
that does not bear the mark of this     
relation4    #ejj    ,higher aims are in
 themselves more valuable1 even if      
unfulfilled1 than  lower ones quite     
attained4    #eja    ,blunt navety1     
stubborn vigour1 scrupulous observance  
of rule1 and any  other epithets which  
may apply to older ,german ,art1 are a  
part of every  earlier and simpler      
artistic method4 ,the older ,venetians1 
,florentines1  and others had it all    
too4    #ejb    ,because ,albrecht      
,drer1 with his incomparable talent1    
could never rise  to the idea of the    
symmetry of beauty1 or even to the      
thought of a  fitting conformity to the 
object in view1 are we never to spurn   
the  ground6    #ejc    ,albrecht ,drer 
had the advantage of a very profound    

realistic  perception1 an affectionate  
human sympathy with all present         
conditions4  ,he was kept back by a     
gloomy phantasy1 devoid both of form and
  foundation4    #ejd    ,it would be   
interesting to show how ,martin ,schn   
stands near him1 and  how the merits of 
,german ,art were restricted to these   
two2 and useful  also to show that it   
was not evening every day4    #eje      
,in every ,italian school the butterfly 
breaks loose from the chrysalis4    #ejf
    ,after ,klopstock released us from  
rhyme1 and ,voss gave us models of      
prose1 are we to make doggerel again    
like ,hans ,sachs8    #ejg    ,let us be
 many-sided6 ,turnips are good1 but they
 are best mixed with  chestnuts4 ,and   
these two noble products of the earth   
grow far apart4    #ejh    ,in every    
kind of ,art there is a degree of       
excellence which may be  reached1 so to 
speak1 by the mere use of one's own     
natural talents4 ,but  at the same time 
it is impossible to go beyond that      

point1 unless ,art  comes to one's aid4 
#eji    ,in the presence of ,nature even
 moderate talent is always possessed of 
insight2 hence drawings from ,nature    
that are at all carefully done  always  
give pleasure4    #eaj    ,to make many 
sketches issue at last in a complete    
work is something that  not even the    
best artists always achieve4    #eaa    
,in the sphere of true ,art there is no 
preparatory school1 but there is a  way 
of preparation2 and the best preparation
 is the interest of the most            
insignificant pupil in the work of the  
master4 ,colour-grinders have  often    
made excellent painters4    #eab    ,if 
an artist grasps ,nature aright and     
contrives to give its form a  nobler1   
freer grace1 no one will understand the 
source of his  inspiration1 and every   
one will swear that he has taken it from
 the  antique4    #eac    ,in studying  
the human form1 let the painter reject  
what is exaggerated1  false1 and        
mechanical2 but let him learn to grasp  

of what infinite grace  the human body  
is capable4    #ead    ,kant taught us  
the critique of the reason4 ,we must    
have a critique of  the senses if ,art  
in general1 and especially ,german ,art1
 is ever to  regain its tone and move   
forward on the path of life and         
happiness4          ,,science      #eae 
,in the sphere of natural science let us
 remember that we have always to  deal  
with an insoluble problem4 ,let us prove
 keen and honest in  attending to       
anything which is in any way brought to 
our notice1 most of  all when it does   
not fit in with our previous ideas4 ,for
 it is only  thereby that we perceive   
the problem1 which does indeed lie in   
nature1  but still more in man4    #eaf 
,a man cannot well stand by himself1 and
 so he is glad to join a party2  because
 if he does not find rest there1 he at  
any rate finds quiet and  safety4       
#eag    ,it is a misfortune to pass at  
once from observation to conclusion1 and
  to regard both as of equal value2 but 

it befalls many a student4    #eah      
,in the history of science and          
throughout the whole course of its      
progress we see certain epochs following
 one another more or less  rapidly4     
,some important view is expressed1 it   
may be original or only  revived2 sooner
 or later it receives recognition2      
fellow workers spring  up2 the outcome  
of it finds its way into the schools2 it
 is taught and  handed down2 and we     
observe1 unhappily1 that it does not in 
the least  matter whether the view be   
true or false4 ,in either case its      
course is  the same2 in either case it  
comes in the end to be a mere phrase1 a 
lifeless word stamped on the memory4    
#eai    ,first let a man teach himself1 
and then he will be taught by others4   
#ebj    ,theories are usually the       
over-hasty efforts of an impatient      
understanding that would gladly be rid  
of phenomena1 and so puts in  their     
place pictures1 notions1 nay1 often mere
 words4 ,we may surmise1 or  even see   

quite well1 that such theories are      
make-shifts2 but do not  passion and    
party-spirit love a make-shift at all   
times8 ,and rightly1  too1 because they 
stand in so much need of it4    #eba    
,it is difficult to know how to treat   
the errors of the age4 ,if a man  oppose
 them1 he stands alone2 if he surrender 
to them1 they bring him  neither joy nor
 credit4    #ebb    ,there are some     
hundred ,christian sects1 every one of  
them acknowledging  ,god and the ,lord  
in its own way1 without troubling       
themselves further  about one another4  
,in the study of nature1 nay1 in every  
study1 things  must of necessity come to
 the same pass4 ,for what is the meaning
 of  every one speaking of toleration1  
and trying to prevent others from       
thinking and expressing themselves after
 their own fashion8    #ebc    ,to      
communicate knowledge by means of       
analogy appears to me a process  equally
 useful and pleasant4 ,the analogous    
case is not there to force  itself on   

the attention or prove anything2 it     
offers a comparison with  some other    
case1 but is not in union with it4      
,several analogous cases do  not join to
 form a seried row3 they are like good  
society1 which always  suggests more    
than it grants4    #ebd    ,to err is to
 be as though truth did not exist4 ,to  
lay bare the error to  oneself and      
others is retrospective discovery4      
#ebe    ,with the growth of knowledge   
our ideas must from time to time be     
organised afresh4 ,the change takes     
place usually in accordance with new    
maxims as they arise1 but it always     
remains provisional4    #ebf    ,when we
 find facts within our knowledge        
exhibited by some new method1 or  even1 
it may be1 described in a foreign       
language1 they receive a  peculiar charm
 of novelty and wear a fresh air4       
#ebg    ,if two masters of the same art 
differ in their statement of it1 in all 
likelihood the insoluble problem lies   
midway between them4    #ebh    ,the    

orbits of certainties touch one another2
 but in the interstices  there is room  
enough for error to go forth and        
prevail4    #ebi    ,we more readily    
confess to errors1 mistakes1 and        
shortcomings in our  conduct than in our
 thought4    #ecj    ,and the reason of 
it is that the conscience is humble and 
even takes a  pleasure in being ashamed4
 ,but the intellect is proud1 and if    
forced to  recant is driven to despair4 
#eca    ,this also explains how it is   
that truths which have been recognised  
are  at first tacitly admitted1 and then
 gradually spread1 so that the very     
thing which was obstinately denied      
appears at last as something quite      
natural4    #ecb    ,ignorant people    
raise questions which were answered by  
the wise  thousands of years ago4       
#ecc    ,when a man sees a phenomenon   
before him1 his thoughts often range    
beyond  it2 when he hears it only talked
 about1 he has no thoughts at all4      
#ecd    ,authority4 ,man cannot exist   

without it1 and yet it brings in its    
train  just as much of error as of      
truth4 ,it perpetuates one by one things
  which should pass away one by one2 it 
rejects that which should be  preserved 
and allows it to pass away2 and it is   
chiefly to blame for  mankind's want of 
progress4    #ece    ,authority--the    
fact1 namely1 that something has already
 happened or been  said or decided1 is  
of great value2 but it is only a pedant 
who demands  authority for everything4  
#ecf    ,an old foundation is worthy of 
all respect1 but it must not take from  
us  the right to build afresh wherever  
we will4    #ecg    ,our advice is that 
every man should remain in the path he  
has struck out  for himself1 and refuse 
to be overawed by authority1 hampered by
  prevalent opinion1 or carried away by 
fashion4    #ech    ,the various        
branches of knowledge always tend as a  
whole to stray away  from life1 and     
return thither only by a roundabout way4
    #eci    ,for they are1 in truth1    

text-books of life3 they gather outer   
and inner  experiences into a general   
and connected whole4    #edj    ,an     
important fact1 an ingenious aperu1     
occupies a very great number  of men1 at
 first only to make acquaintance with   
it2 then to understand  it2 and         
afterwards to work it out and carry it  
further4    #eda    ,on the appearance  
of anything new the mass of people ask3 
,what is the  use of it8 ,and they are  
not wrong4 ,for it is only through the  
use of  anything that they can perceive 
its value4    #edb    ,the truly wise   
ask what the thing is in itself and in  
relation to other  things1 and do not   
trouble themselves about the use of     
it1--in other  words1 about the way in  
which it may be applied to the          
necessities of  existence and what is   
already known4 ,this will soon be       
discovered by  minds of a very different
 order--minds that feel the joy of      
living1 and  are keen1 adroit1 and      
practical4    #edc    ,every            

investigator must before all things look
 upon himself as one who  is summoned to
 serve on a jury4 ,he has only to       
consider how far the  statement of the  
case is complete and clearly set forth  
by the evidence4  ,then he draws his    
conclusion and gives his vote1 whether  
it be that his  opinion coincides with  
that of the foreman or not4    #edd     
,and in acting thus he remains equally  
at ease whether the majority agree  with
 him or he finds himself in a minority4 
,for he has done what he  could3 he has 
expressed his convictions2 and he is not
 master of the  minds or hearts of      
others4    #ede    ,in the world of     
science1 however1 these sentiments have 
never been of  much account4 ,there     
everything depends on making opinion    
prevail and  dominate2 few men are      
really independent2 the majority draws  
the  individual after it4    #edf       
,the history of philosophy1 of science1 
of religion1 all shows that  opinions   
spread in masses1 but that that always  

comes to the front which  is more easily
 grasped1 that is to say1 is most suited
 and agreeable to  the human mind in its
 ordinary condition4 ,nay1 he who has   
practised  self-culture in the higher   
sense may always reckon upon meeting an 
adverse majority4    #edg    ,there is  
much that is true which does not admit  
of being calculated2  just as there are 
a great many things that cannot be      
brought to the test  of a decisive      
experiment4    #edh    ,it is just for  
this that man stands so high1 that what 
could not  otherwise be brought to light
 should be brought to light in him4     
,what is a musical string1 and all its  
mechanical division1 in comparison  with
 the musician's ear8 ,may we not also   
say1 what are the elementary  phenomena 
of nature itself compared with man1 who 
must control and  modify them all before
 he can in any way assimilate them to   
himself8    #edi    ,to a new truth     
there is nothing more hurtful than an   
old error4    #eej    ,the ultimate     

origin of things is completely beyond   
our faculties2 hence  when we see       
anything come into being1 we look upon  
it as having been  already there4 ,this 
is why we find the theory of embotement 
intelligible4    #eea    ,there are many
 problems in natural science on which we
 cannot fittingly  speak unless we call 
metaphysics to our aid2 but not the     
wisdom of the  schools1 which consists  
in mere verbiage4 ,it is that which was 
before  physics1 exists with it1 and    
will be after it4    #eeb    ,since men 
are really interested in nothing but    
their own opinions1 every  one who puts 
forward an opinion looks about him right
 and left for means  of strengthening   
himself and others in it4 ,a man avails 
himself of the  truth so long as it is  
serviceable2 but he seizes on what is   
false with  a passionate eloquence as   
soon as he can make a momentary use of  
it2  whether it be to dazzle others with
 it as a kind of half-truth1 or to      
employ it as a stopgap for effecting an 

apparent union between things  that have
 been disjointed4 ,this experience at   
first caused me annoyance1  and then    
sorrow2 and now it is a source of       
mischievous satisfaction4 ,i  have      
pledged myself never again to expose a  
proceeding of this kind4    #eec        
,everything that we call ,invention or  
,discovery in the higher sense of  the  
word is the serious exercise and        
activity of an original feeling for     
truth1 which1 after a long course of    
silent cultivation1 suddenly  flashes   
out into fruitful knowledge4 ,it is a   
revelation working from  within on the  
outer world1 and lets a man feel that he
 is made in the  image of ,god4 ,it is a
 synthesis of ,world and ,mind1 giving  
the most  blessed assurance of the      
eternal harmony of things4    #eed    ,a
 man must cling to the belief that the  
incomprehensible is  comprehensible2    
otherwise he would not try to fathom it4
    #eee    ,there are pedants who are  
also rascals1 and they are the worst of 

all4    #eef    ,a man does not need to 
have seen or experienced everything     
himself4 ,but  if he is to commit       
himself to another's experiences and his
 way of  putting them1 let him consider 
that he has to do with three things--the
  object in question and two subjects4  
#eeg    ,the supreme achievement would  
be to see that stating a fact is        
starting  a theory4    #eeh    ,if ,i   
acquiesce at last in some ultimate fact 
of nature1 it is1 no doubt1  only       
resignation2 but it makes a great       
difference whether the  resignation     
takes place at the limits of human      
faculty1 or within the  hypothetical    
boundaries of my own narrow             
individuality4    #eei    ,if we look at
 the problems raised by ,aristotle1 we  
are astonished at his  gift of          
observation4 ,what wonderful eyes the   
,greeks had for many things6  ,only they
 committed the mistake of being         
over-hasty1 of passing  straightway from
 the phenomenon to the explanation of   

it1 and thereby  produced certain       
theories that are quite inadequate4 ,but
 this is the  mistake of all times1 and 
still made in our own day4    #efj      
,hypotheses are cradle-songs by which   
the teacher lulls his scholars to       
sleep4 ,the thoughtful and honest       
observer is always learning more and    
more of his limitations2 he sees that   
the further knowledge spreads1 the  more
 numerous are the problems that make    
their appearance4    #efa    ,our       
mistake is that we doubt what is certain
 and want to establish what  is         
uncertain4 ,my maxim in the study of    
,nature is this3 hold fast what is      
certain and keep a watch on what is     
uncertain4    #efb    ,what a master a  
man would be in his own subject if he   
taught nothing  useless6    #efc    ,the
 greatest piece of folly is that every  
man thinks himself compelled  to hand   
down what people think they have known4 
#efd    ,if many a man did not feel     
obliged to repeat what is untrue1       

because he  has said it once1 the world 
would have been quite different4    #efe
    ,every man looks at the world lying 
ready before him1 ordered and  fashioned
 into a complete whole1 as after all but
 an element out of  which his endeavour 
is to create a special world suited to  
himself4  ,capable men lay hold of the  
world without hesitation and try to     
shape  their course as best they can2   
others dally over it1 and some doubt    
even  of their own existence4    ,the   
man who felt the full force of this     
fundamental truth would dispute  with no
 one1 but look upon another's mode of   
thought equally with his  own1 as merely
 a phenomenon4 ,for we find almost daily
 that one man can  think with ease what 
another cannot possibly think at all2   
and that1  too1 not in matters which    
might have some sort of effect upon     
their  common weal or woe1 but in things
 which cannot touch them at all4    #eff
    ,there is nothing more odious than  
the majority2 it consists of a few      

powerful men to lead the way2 of        
accommodating rascals and submissive    
weaklings2 and of a mass of men who trot
 after them1 without in the  least      
knowing their own mind4    #efg    ,when
 ,i observe the luminous progress and   
expansion of natural science in  modern 
times1 ,i seem to myself like a         
traveller going eastwards at dawn1  and 
gazing at the growing light with joy1   
but also with impatience2  looking      
forward with longing to the advent of   
the full and final light1  but1         
nevertheless1 having to turn away his   
eyes when the sun appeared1  unable to  
bear the splendour he had awaited with  
so much desire4    #efh    ,we praise   
the eighteenth century for concerning   
itself chiefly with  analysis4 ,the task
 remaining to the nineteenth is to      
discover the false  syntheses which     
prevail1 and to analyse their contents  
anew4    #efi    ,a school may be       
regarded as a single individual who     
talks to himself for  a hundred years1  

and takes an extraordinary pleasure in  
his own being1  however foolish and     
silly it may be4    #egj    ,in science 
it is a service of the highest merit to 
seek out those  fragmentary truths      
attained by the ancients1 and to develop
 them  further4    #ega    ,if a man    
devotes himself to the promotion of     
science1 he is firstly  opposed1 and    
then he is informed that his ground is  
already occupied4 ,at  first men will   
allow no value to what we tell them1 and
 then they behave  as if they knew it   
all themselves4    #egb    ,nature fills
 all space with her limitless           
productivity4 ,if we observe  merely our
 own earth1 everything that we call evil
 and unfortunate is so  because ,nature 
cannot provide room for everything that 
comes into  existence1 and still less   
endow it with permanence4    #egc       
,everything that comes into being seeks 
room for itself and desires  duration3  
hence it drives something else from its 
place and shortens its  duration4       

#egd    ,there is so much of cryptogamy 
in phanerogamy that centuries will not  
decipher it4    #ege    ,what a true    
saying it is that he who wants to       
deceive mankind must  before all things 
make absurdity plausible4    #egf       
,the further knowledge advances1 the    
nearer we come to the unfathomable3  the
 more we know how to use our knowledge1 
the better we see that the  unfathomable
 is of no practical use4    #egg    ,the
 finest achievement for a man of thought
 is to have fathomed what may  be       
fathomed1 and quietly to revere the     
unfathomable4    #egh    ,the discerning
 man who acknowledges his limitations is
 not far off  perfection4    #egi       
,there are two things of which a man    
cannot be careful enough3 of  obstinacy 
if he confines himself to his own line  
of thought2 of  incompetency1 if he goes
 beyond it4    #ehj    ,incompetency is 
a greater obstacle to perfection than   
one would think4    #eha    ,the century
 advances2 but every individual begins  

anew4    #ehb    ,what friends do with  
us and for us is a real part of our     
life2 for it  strengthens and advances  
our personality4 ,the assault of our    
enemies is  not part of our life2 it is 
only part of our experience2 we throw it
 off  and guard ourselves against it as 
against frost1 storm1 rain1 hail1 or    
any other of the external evils which   
may be expected to happen4    #ehc    ,a
 man cannot live with every one1 and    
therefore he cannot live for every  one4
 ,to see this truth aright is to place a
 high value upon one's  friends1 and not
 to hate or persecute one's enemies4    
,nay1 there is  hardly any greater      
advantage for a man to gain than to find
 out1 if he  can1 the merits of his     
opponents3 it gives him a decided       
ascendency over  them4    #ehd    ,every
 one knows how to value what he has     
attained in life2 most of all  the man  
who thinks and reflects in his old age4 
,he has a comfortable  feeling that it  
is something of which no one can rob    

him4    #ehe    ,the best metempsychosis
 is for us to appear again in others4   
#ehf    ,it is very seldom that we      
satisfy ourselves2 all the more         
consoling is  it to have satisfied      
others4    #ehg    ,we look back upon   
our life only as on a thing of broken   
pieces1 because  our misses and failures
 are always the first to strike us1 and 
outweigh  in our imagination what we    
have done1 and attained4    #ehh    ,the
 sympathetic youth sees nothing of this2
 he reads1 enjoys1 and uses  the youth  
of one who has gone before him1 and     
rejoices in it with all  his heart1 as  
though he had once been what he now is4 
#ehi    ,science helps us before all    
things in this1 that it somewhat        
lightens  the feeling of wonder with    
which ,nature fills us2 then1 however1  
as life  becomes more and more complex1 
it creates new facilities for the       
avoidance of what would do us harm and  
the promotion of what will do us  good4 
#eij    ,it is always our eyes alone1   

our way of looking at things4 ,nature   
alone  knows what she means now1 and    
what she had meant in the past4         
,,nature3 ,,aphorisms      ,nature6 ,we 
are surrounded by her and locked in her 
clasp3 powerless to  leave her1 and     
powerless to come closer to her4        
,unasked and unwarned she  takes us up  
into the whirl of her dance1 and hurries
 on with us till we  are weary and fall 
from her arms4    ,she creates new forms
 without end3 what exists now1 never was
 before2  what was1 comes not again2 all
 is new and yet always the old4    ,we  
live in the midst of her and are        
strangers4 ,she speaks to us            
unceasingly and betrays not her secret4 
,we are always influencing her  and yet 
can do her no violence4                 
,individuality seems to be all her aim1 
and she cares nought for  individuals4  
,she is always building and always      
destroying1 and her  workshop is not to 
be approached4    ,nature lives in her  
children only1 and the mother1 where is 

she8 ,she is  the sole artist1--out of  
the simplest materials the greatest     
diversity2  attaining1 with no trace of 
effort1 the finest perfection1 the      
closest  precision1 always softly       
veiled4 ,each of her works has an       
essence of its  own2 every shape that   
she takes is in idea utterly isolated2  
and yet all  forms one4    ,she plays a 
drama2 whether she sees it herself1 we  
know not2 and yet she  plays it for us1 
who stand but a little way off4         
,there is constant life in her1 motion  
and development2 and yet she  remains   
where she was4 ,she is eternally        
changing1 nor for a moment does  she    
stand still4 ,of rest she knows nothing1
 and to all stagnation she  has affixed 
her curse4 ,she is steadfast2 her step  
is measured1 her  exceptions rare1 her  
laws immutable4    ,she has thought1 and
 she ponders unceasingly2 not as a man1 
but as  ,nature4 ,the meaning of the    
whole she keeps to herself1 and no one  
can  learn it of her4    ,men are all in

 her1 and she in all men4 ,with all she 
plays a friendly  game1 and rejoices the
 more a man wins from her4 ,with many   
her game is  so secret1 that she brings 
it to an end before they are aware of   
it4    ,even what is most unnatural is  
,nature2 even the coarsest ,philistinism
  has something of her genius4 ,who does
 not see her everywhere1 sees her       
nowhere aright4    ,she loves herself1  
and clings eternally to herself with    
eyes and hearts  innumerable4 ,she has  
divided herself that she may be her own 
delight4  ,she is ever making new       
creatures spring up to delight in her1  
and  imparts herself insatiably4    ,she
 rejoices in illusion4 ,if a man        
destroys this in himself and others1    
she punishes him like the hardest       
tyrant4 ,if he follows her in           
confidence1 she presses him to her heart
 as it were her child4    ,her children 
are numberless4 ,to no one of them is   
she altogether  niggardly2 but she has  
her favourites1 on whom she lavishes    

much1 and  for whom she makes many a    
sacrifice4 ,over the great she has      
spread the  shield of her protection4   
,she spurts forth her creatures out of  
nothing1 and tells them not whence  they
 come and whither they go4 ,they have   
only to go their way3 she knows  the    
path4    ,her springs of action are few1
 but they never wear out3 they are      
always  working1 always manifold4       
,the drama she plays is always new1     
because she is always bringing new      
spectators4 ,life is her fairest        
invention1 and ,death is her device for 
having life in abundance4    ,she       
envelops man in darkness1 and urges him 
constantly to the light4 ,she  makes him
 dependent on the earth1 heavy and      
sluggish1 and always rouses  him up     
afresh4    ,she creates wants1 because  
she loves movement4 ,how marvellous that
 she  gains it all so easily6 ,every    
want is a benefit1 soon satisfied1 soon 
growing again4 ,if she gives more1 it is
 a new source of desire2 but the        

balance quickly rights itself4    ,every
 moment she starts on the longest       
journeys1 and every moment  reaches her 
goal4    ,she amuses herself with a vain
 show2 but to us her play is            
all-important4    ,she lets every child 
work at her1 every fool judge of her1   
and thousands  pass her by and see      
nothing2 and she has her joy in them    
all1 and in  them all finds her account4
    ,man obeys her laws even in opposing
 them3 he works with her even when he   
wants to work against her4              
,everything she gives is found to be    
good1 for first of all she makes it     
indispensable4 ,she lingers1 that we may
 long for presence2 she hurries  by1    
that we may not grow weary of her4      
,speech or language she has none2 but   
she creates tongues and hearts  through 
which she feels and speaks4    ,her     
crown is ,love4 ,only through ,love can 
we come near her4 ,she puts  gulfs      
between all things1 and all things      
strive to be interfused4 ,she  isolates 

everything1 that she may draw everything
 together4 ,with a few  draughts from   
the cup of ,love she repays for a life  
full of trouble4    ,she is all things4 
,she rewards herself and punishes       
herself2 and in  herself rejoices and is
 distressed4 ,she is rough and gentle1  
loving and  terrible1 powerless and     
almighty4 ,in her everything is always  
present4  ,past or ,future she knows    
not4 ,the ,present is her ,eternity4    
,she is kind4  ,i praise her with all   
her works4 ,she is wise and still4 ,no  
one can force  her to explain herself1  
or frighten her into a gift that she    
does not  give willingly4 ,she is       
crafty1 but for a good end2 and it is   
best not to  notice her cunning4    ,she
 is whole and yet never finished4 ,as   
she works now1 so can she work  for     
ever4    ,to every one she appears in a 
form of his own4 ,she hides herself in a
  thousand names and terms1 and is      
always the same4    ,she has placed me  
in this world2 she will also lead me out

 of it4 ,i  trust myself to her4 ,she   
may do with me as she pleases4 ,she will
 not  hate her work4 ,i did not speak of
 her4 ,no6 what is true and what is     
false1 she has spoken it all4           
,everything is her fault1 everything is 
her  merit4          ,,index            
,absent1 the1 #dg4    ,absolute1 the1   
#bch4    ,abstractions1 how destroyed1  
#bjc4    ,absurdities1 #bbi1 #ege4      
,acquaintances1 new1 #dcb4              
,acquirements1 #cdd4    ,acting unlike  
oneself1 #bih4    ,activity1 #cdb1 #cfh1
 #cgb1 #dja4    schylus1 saying of1     
#aba4    ,age1 #cia4    ,age and ,youth1
 #cg1 #bcc-d1 #bcg1 #bie1 #cba1 #cgd4   
,ages of life1 #cij4    ,agreement and  
disagreement1 #chd4    ,aims1 #bgh1     
#cdb1 #ejj4    ,altruism1 #afg1 #bad1   
#ehc4    ,analogies1 #df1 #ebc4         
,analysis1 #efh4    ,ancient literature1
 #ddg4    ,ancients1 the1 #ddc1 #dde1   
#egj4    ,anthropomorphism1 #afe4       
,antiquities1 #cbe4    ,antiquity and   
posterity1 #aij4    ,architecture1 a    

speechless music1 #dic4    ,aristotle1  
#eei4    ,art1 #dib1 #did1 #dii1 #ejh4  
,art and ,nature1 #dhb-c1 #dij-a1 #eji1 
#eab4    ,art and the ,world1 #dhe-f4   
,artist1 the1 #die-h4    ,artistic      
criticism1 #aaf4    ,assemblies1 #bha4  
,attainable1 the1 #dh4    ,attainments1 
#ehd1 #ehg4    ,authority1 #ecd-g4      
,authorship1 #dah4      ,ballads1       
#dgg-h4    ,beauty1 #acf1 #bcb1 #dha4   
,bible1 the1 #deg-i4    ,books1 #dag1   
#dbj1 #dcb1 #def4      ,cause and       
effect1 #cid4    ,century1 the1 and the 
individual1 #eha4    ,character1 #cfg4  
,characteristics1 #g1 #bi1 #gd1 #ia1    
#aaj1 #agi1 #bia1 #big1 #caa1 #cdd4     
,children1 #bde-g4    ,christ1 #cad4    
,classicism1 #dfb-c4    ,clever folly1  
#age4    ,common-sense1 #di1 #bag4      
,complications1 #de4    ,confession of  
error1 #ebi4    ,confidences1 #adb4     
,conscience1 #abe4    ,conscience and   
intellect1 #ecj4    ,contemporaries1    
#chf1 #ded4    ,contradictions1 #hg1    
#ajb1 #bbc1 #bhh-i1 #cgh1 #chb4         

,converts1 #agj4    ,criticism1 #adf1   
#ahb1 #cjd1 #def4    ,critique of       
common-sense1 #cic4    ,critique of the 
senses1 #ead4    ,cryptogamy1 #egd4     
,culture1 #cbh-i1 #dab4      ,dangerous 
men1 #bge-f4    ,debtor and creditor1   
#bhb-c4    ,deception1 #cbj1 #djj4      
,defects1 #hi4    ,despotism1 advantages
 of1 #bji4    ,dialectic1 #cgi4         
,difficulties1 #bgg-h1 #ccj1 #cih4      
,dilettanti1 #aei4    ,discovery1 #cig1 
#eec4    ,dispositions1 like and unlike1
 #chj4    ,distinctions1 #aff4          
,doggerel1 #ejf4    ,doing good1 #ih4   
,drer1 ,albrecht1 #ejb-c4    ,duties and
 rights1 #aej4    ,duty1 #c1 #ch1 #djb4 
,eclecticism1 #dcf-g4    ,education1    
#ddd4    ,education1 overpressure in1   
#cga4    ,eighteenth century1 #efh4     
,embotement1 theory of1 #eej4           
,empirical morality1 #adj4              
,encyclopdia1 the best1 #afa4           
,enemies1 #ehb4    ,enemies' merits1    
#chg1 #ehc4    ,enthusiasm1 #baa1 #dga4 
,erasmus1 saying of1 #fc4    ,error and 

half-truth1 #ei1 #fa1 #gb1 #efd4        
,errors of the age1 #eba4    ,excellence
 unfathomable1 #djf4    ,existence of   
evil1 #egb-c4    ,experience1 #dc1 #eef4
      ,facts and theories1 #eeg4        
,facts and thoughts1 #ahh4    ,facts    
newly stated1 #ebf4    ,faith1 #aag4    
,false notions1 #e1 #bjj4    ,false     
tendencies1 #fd4    ,familiarity1 #bfb4 
,fashion1 #cib4    ,fastidiousness1     
#bfj4    ,faults1 #bif-g1 #bii1 #cjd-e4 
,favour1 #hc4    ,fear1 #bge4           
,figurative sayings3    a leaf and a    
bird1 #cei4    an old man warming       
himself1 #cfc4    blowing the flute1    
#af4    buttoning one's coat1 #cfb4     
curds and cream1 #eh4    dirt and the   
sun1 #ii4    dust and the storm1 #ff4   
frogs and water1 #ga4    heroes and     
valets1 #bgb4    ,hindoos of the desert1
 #ajf4    hitting the nail1 #gh4        
lamps and the light of heaven1 #cfa4    
lifting the stone1 #bjh4    mankind and 
the ,red ,sea1 #ahg4    names for the   
sea1 #ie4    snow1 #ib4    the          

,antipodes1 disputing about1 #ij4    the
 forester and the tree1 #ceh4    the    
iron in the smithy1 #caj4    the        
millstream1 #db4    the rainbow1 #aae4  
the sparrow and the stork1 #cfj4    the 
world a bell1 #aeh4    turnips and      
chestnuts1 #ejg4      ,flattery1 #ade1  
#bhg1 #bhi4    ,fools1 #bga1 #bgf4      
,forethought1 #ajc4    ,form1 the human1
 #eac4    ,freedom and slavery1 #bfh-i4 
,friends' defects1 #chg4    ,friendship1
 #bdh1 #ehb4    ,fulfilment of desire1  
#bbh1 #bfg4    ,fulfilment of duty1 #ch4
    ,future1 the1 #bhj4      ,general   
ideas1 #ae1agg4    ,generosity1 #fe4    
,genius1 #bcb1 #bgc1 #ccf-i1 #dbe4      
,gentle judgments1 #abd4    ,german art1
 #eja4    ,germans1 the1 #cbf4    ,god1 
#cjg1 #cec4    ,godlike1 the1 #cjh4     
,good advice1 #bjf4    ,good manners1   
#bed-g1 #bfc-e4    ,good will of others1
 #cd4    ,government1 the best1 #bbe4   
,graceful misery1 #abf4    ,gratitude1  
#bhc4    ,great ideas1 #bci1 #cdi1      
#cej-b4    ,great men1 #bgd4    ,great  

men and little men1 #fi1 #aai1 #bga4    
,great men and the masses1 #adg4        
,greek and ,latin1 study of1 #ddd1 #ddf4
    ,greek and ,latin writers1 #dfi4    
,greek art1 #dhd4    ,greeks1 the1 #ahi1
 #ddc1 #eei4      ,habit1 #abi4         
,hatred and envy1 #acj4    ,hearing and 
understanding1 #chc4    ,high positions1
 #cce4    ,historian's duty1 the1       
#deb-c1 #dee4    ,historic sense1 #dfj4 
,history1 #hj1 #dea4    ,history of     
knowledge1 #ee4    ,honour and          
rascality1 #add4    ,hope1 #aid1 #bhj1  
#cae4    ,hypotheses1 #efj4             
,ideals1 #ada1 #cdh4    ,ideas and      
sensations1 #ic4    ,ignorance1 #bca4   
,illusions1 #ahf4    ,imagination1 how  
regulated1 #dhi4    ,imprudence1 #ej1   
#aje4    ,incompetence and imperfection1
 #ag1 #ah4    ,incompetency1 #egi-hj4   
,individuals and the age1 #bja1 #eha4   
,influencing one's age1 #cfe4           
,ingratitude1 #aeb4    ,inquiry1 limits 
of1 #cbg1 #eed1 #eeh1 #egf-g4           
,insight1 #cgj4    ,intelligence1 #cbb4 

,intention1 #ccd4    ,interest in public
 events1 #cca4    ,introspection1 #ge4  
,investigator1 the true1 #edc-d4        
,irregular circumstances1 #adc4         
,isolation of the good1 #bbd4           
,italian art1 #eje4      ,judgment1     
#he-f4    ,justice and law1 #ed4        
,kepler1 saying of1 #ced4    ,knowledge1
 #bce1 #cbd1 #cgj1 #ebe-f1 #ech4        
,knowledge and doubt1 #agh4             
,knowledge and new ideas1 #hb4          
,knowledge1 branches of1 #eci4          
,knowledge of one another1 #fg-gj1      
#bea-c4    ,knowledge1 the contempt for1
 #aac4      ,language and thought1 #cag1
 #djg4    ,languages1 knowledge of1     
#dad4    ,laws1 #cba4    ,laws1 study   
of1 #afh4    ,leasing1 saying of1 #eb4  
,lessons1 #aci4    ,liberal ideas1 #agd1
 #cge4    ,liberality1 the truest1 #che4
    ,life1 the art of1 #aja1 #aib1 #bhb1
 #ehd4    ,limitations1 #egh4           
,literature a fragment1 #djd-e4         
,literature1 corrupt1 #dfe-g4           
,literature1 new1 #dji4    ,love1 #aie1 

#bgj4    ,love of truth1 #bh4    ,loving
 one's like1 #ahj4    ,lucidity1 #dac4  
,lyrics1 #dba4      ,majorities1 #edd-f1
 #eff4    ,malignance of scholars1 #ace4
    ,man and his organs1 #cdg4          
,masters1 #id1 #caj4    ,mastery1 #bjd4 
,matter1 contents and form1 #ahc4       
,maxims and anecdotes1 #aef4    ,maxims 
of the ancients1 #dch-db4    ,means and 
end1 #aa4    ,mediocrity1 #bba1 #bgc4   
,memoirs1 #adi4    ,memory1 #aeg4       
,men and women1 #bbf1 #bie4             
,metaphysics1 #eea4    ,metempsychosis1 
the best1 #ehe4    ,method in art and   
knowledge1 #aab4    ,mischief1 #afj4    
,misfortunes1 #bbg4    ,mistakes1 #ac1  
#dj1 #aec1 #afb1 #baj1 #bah1 #bhe-f1    
#ebd1 #efa4    ,misunderstanding1 #abb4 
,moment1 the1 a kind of public1 #cfi4   
,monarchs and the press1 #cge4          
,moods1 #ajj4    ,morality1 #cai4       
,motive1 #aj4    ,mottoes1 #bjg4        
,music1 #dhh4    ,mysteries and         
miracles1 #afi4    ,mysticism1 #dcj4    
,napoleon1 #bdj-a4    ,national         

character1 #gc1 #cgd1 #dbi4    ,nature1 
#egb1 #eij4    ,nature and art1 #dhb-c1 
#dij-a1 #eji1 #eab4    ,nature and      
culture1 #bhd1 #dgg4    ,nature-poets1  
#dai4    ,nature1 study of1 #efa4       
,newspapers1 #bc1 #cge1 #dfa4           
,obscurantism1 #hh4    ,obscurity in an 
author1 #dca4    ,observation and       
conclusion1 #eag1 #eei4    ,obstinacy1  
#egi4    ,opinions1 #ajg1 #eeb4         
,opponents1 #cha-b4    ,opposition1 #hh4
    ,originality1 #a1 #acd1 #dji-aa1    
#ecf-g4    ,origins1 #eej4    ,ovid1    
#dfc4      ,parties1 #eaf4    ,passions1
 #cjj-c4    ,past1 the1 #ach4           
,patience1 #ceg4    ,patriotism in art  
and science1 #ddh4    ,patrons1 #acc4   
,paying for one's humanity1 #agc4       
,peace1 #ec4    ,pedantry1 #acb1 #ece1  
#eee4    ,pereant qui ante nos nostra   
dizerunt6 #ccc4    ,perfection1 #cdc1   
#egh1 #ehj4    ,perseverance1 #aic1     
#ecg4    ,perversities of the day1 #bdd4
    ,pessimism1 #aha1 #ahd4             
,phenomena1 how to approach1 #cii4      

,philosophy and the ages of life1 #cij4 
,piety1 #ce-f4    ,plain speaking1 #agb4
    ,plans and designs1 #ab4            
,poetical talent1 #ddi4    ,poetry1     
#agf4    ,posterity1 the appeal to1     
#djh4    ,power of conviction1 #hd4     
,practical men and thinkers1 #cie4      
,praising a man1 #cbc4    ,prayer1 #cae4
    ,predestination1 #cee4              
,prejudices1 #bae4    ,primeval powers1 
#bcf4    ,problem of science1 #eae1     
#eea4    ,problematical natures1 #ig4   
,problematical opinions1 #cj4           
,problematical talents1 #aga4           
,problems1 #ebg4    ,productive energy1 
#afd4    ,productivity1 #dae4           
,progress and problems1 #cih4           
,progress1 conflicts of1 #bai4          
,progress of science1 #efg4             
,propdeutics1 #bab1 #eaa4               
,protestants1 #bje4    ,prudent energy1 
#af4    ,psychology1 #dcc4    ,public1  
the1 #if1 #cfi1 #chi1 #daf1 #eda4       
,questions1 #ecb4      ,reason1 #d4     
,reformation1 the1 #cac1 #caf4          

,religion1 #cab4    ,religious          
controversy1 #dfj4    ,renaissance1 the1
 #cac4    ,revolution1 saying on the1   
#cgc4    ,revolutionary sentiments1     
#baf4    ,rhythm1 #aca4    ,riddles1    
#fb4    ,ridiculous1 the1 #bia-d4       
,right1 doing what is1 #gg4    ,rocks of
 offence1 #cjf4    ,roland1 ,madame1    
#djc4    ,romances1 #dbb4    ,romantic  
landscape1 #dhj4    ,romanticism1 #dfb1 
#dfd4      ,sakontala1 #dgb4            
,satisfaction1 #ehf4    ,scepticism1    
#cdj-a4    ,schiller1 ,goethe and1      
#dcd-e4    ,scholar1 the real1 #cji4    
,schn1 ,martin1 #ejd4    ,schools of    
thought1 #efi4    ,science3 its course1 
#eah1 #edj-a1 #ede-f1 #efg1 #egj-a1     
#ehi4    ,science3 its problem1 #eae4   
,sects1 #ebb4    ,self-appreciation1    
#bj1 #ef1 #aaa1 #bdi1 #cff4             
,self-guidance1 #ba-b1 #bd-e1 #cc4      
,self-knowledge1 #b4    ,senses1 #cde-f4
    ,senses1 false tendencies of1 #dhg4 
,sentimental poetry1 #dbc4              
,sentimentality1 national1 #dbi4        

,service1 #aif4    ,shakespeare1 #dgc-e4
    ,silence1 #cb4    ,sincerity and    
impartiality1 #aea4    ,sketches1 #eaj4 
,society1 #bej4    ,society1 soldiers   
and civilians in1 #beh-i4    ,society1  
the best1 #bcj1 #bhi4    ,soporifics1   
#gf4    ,sowing and reaping1 #bgi4      
,spectacles1 #bfa4    ,speech1 #chb4    
,speech and language1 #abc4    ,speech  
and writing1 #cgg4    ,speeches1 #bhg4  
,spinozism in poetry1 #dbg4    ,steady  
activity1 #aed4    ,sterne1 #dgf4       
,subordination1 #aia4    ,success in the
 world1 #f1 #ai1 #cfh4    ,superiority  
of another1 #bgj4    ,superstition1 #ca1
 #dbd4    ,symbolism1 #bjb4      ,tact1 
#bf-g4    ,tattle1 #adh4    ,tattooing1 
#gi4    ,teaching1 #eai1 #efb-c4        
,theatre1 effect of the1 #aig4          
,theory1 #dd1 #ebj1 #eeg4    ,theory and
 experience1 #aih4    ,things of another
 world1 #bdb-c4    ,thinkers1 #daf4     
,thinking for oneself1 #h4              
,thoroughness1 #da4    ,thought1 #a1    
#cif1 #dab1 #ecc1 #efc4    ,thoughts at 

the close of life1 #djc4    ,timon1     
saying of1 #abg4    ,toleration1 #cef4  
,tradition1 #cib1 #efc4    ,tragedies1  
#dgj4    ,translation1 #dbf1 #dgi4      
,troubles1 #ajd4    ,truth1 #ad1 #bh1   
#fj1 #abj1 #afc1 #ccf1 #eca1 #edg1 #eec4
    ,truth and error1 #ajh-i1 #acg1     
#ahe1 #aii1 #bac1 #dfh1 #ebh1 #edi1     
#eeb4    ,truth to oneself and others1  
#ccg4    ,tyranny of great ideas1 #ea4  
,ultimate facts1 #eeh4                  
,unconditioned1 striving after the1     
#cgb4    ,understanding1 #ha1 #chc1     
#chh4    ,unfathomable1 the1 #egf-g4    
,unities1 the three1 #dbh4    ,unjust   
blame1 #if4    ,unqualified activity1   
#i4    ,use and value1 #eda-b4          
,value of each day1 #ccb4    ,vanitas   
vanitatum6 #aad4    ,vanity1 #cgf4      
,veni ,creator ,spiritus1 #dbe4         
,visitors1 #beb-c4    ,voluntary        
dependence1 #bff4    ,vulgarity1 #bbb4  
,wisdom of this world1 #cjg4    ,wishing
 people well1 #abh4    ,will1 #cbd4     
,word and picture1 #aee4    ,words of   

praise and blame1 #dfh4    ,work1 #eg4  
,work for the past and the future1 #cfd4
    ,work1 how it limits us1 #bbj4      
,world1 the1 #aeh1 #efe4    ,worthiest  
lot1 the1 #cdb4      ,youth1 #ehh4      
,,the ,,end