,philosophic ,nights    ,in ,paris      
,,by ,,remy ,,de ,,gourmont    ,,being  
,,selections    ,,from    ,,promenades  
,,philosophiques    ,translated by      
,,isaac ,,goldberg      ,,john ,w4      
,,luce ,,and ,,company    ,,boston      
,,mcmxx          ,introduction          
,helvtius and the ,philosophy of        
,happiness  ,the ,player's ,illusion    
,the ,beyond  ,the ,question of ,free   
,will  ,the ,insurrection of the        
,vertebrates  ,the ,pessimism of        
,leopardi  ,the ,colors of ,life  ,the  
,art of ,seeing  ,the ,rivers of ,france
  ,the ,fall of ,days  ,insinuations    
,footprints on the ,sand                
,,introduction      ,the importance of  
,remy de ,gourmont to the universal     
world of thought  is now beginning to be
 recognized among thinkers of every     
continent4  ,during his own life he was 
a figure apart and aloof even from his  
confrres2 his reputation was a matter   
more of intensity than of  extensive    
acclaim1 although subtly it made its    

way1 as did that of  the ,symbolist     
school in general1 to many nations4     
,now1 however1 he is  beginning to      
receive that wider recognition which    
during his life he  actually shunned4   
,he belongs with the notable few who    
have devised and  lived a philosophy of 
continuous adaptation to the new        
knowledge that  the new day brings      
forth2 he is a daring1 independent1     
unostentatious1  extremely personal     
neo-,epicurean1 too individualistic to  
have been  held long within the circle  
of a school1 too sensitive not to have  
responded to the multifarious influences
 of a complex age4 ,yet just as  his    
individualism was not the ignorant      
self-proclamation of blatant            
mediocrity1 so was his response to the  
contemporary world far more than  an    
aimless dashing about hither and thither
 in a snobbish attempt to  be ahead of  
the times4 ,the man's essentially       
dynamic personality has  a genuine      
strain of the classic in it2 he         

possesses a rare repose1  an            
intellectual poise1 that serves as a    
most admirable complement to  his       
vibrant ideas4 ,few writers have ever so
 well combined matter and  manner1 which
 to ,gourmont were but two aspects of   
one and the same  thing1--the original  
thought4 ,he is not1 and never will be1 
a writer  for the crowd2 he was1 by     
heredity and by choice1 an aristocratic 
spirit1 yet as he lived grew to         
recognize and to admit the importance   
of true democracy4    ,his chief        
importance1 historically1 was as the    
recognized interpreter  of the          
,symbolistic movement in ,french poetry2
 but behind that  movement lay a        
genealogy of ideas which ramified into  
such seemingly  divergent directions as 
the pre-,raphaelites in ,england1 the   
,hegelian  idealists in ,germany1 and   
thus formed a modern manifestation of   
primary significance4 ,de ,gourmont1    
like more than one of the  ,symbolists1 
outgrew the movement1 which from the    

first was composed of  personalities too
 strong to form a mere school4 ,he was1 
in the words  of one of his             
commentators1 among the first1 if not   
the first1 to  realize the insufficiency
 of ,symbolism1 in all that did not     
confine  itself amidst the proud ivory  
walls of an uncompromising lyricism4 ,if
  he did not combat it1 because he had  
too complaisantly exalted it1 he  none  
the less abandoned it more and more1 to 
surrender himself1--with  no other      
discipline than his personal taste and  
his keen sense of the  ,french          
genius1--to the fecundity of his nature1
 retaining of the  old verbal magic only
 that which might contribute to his     
personal  expansion1--notably that      
precious gift of image and analogies    
which  imparts such poetry1 such        
flexibility1 variety and charm to his   
style4  ,but henceforth the idea 7i4e41 
rather than the word7 assumed in him a  
preponderant importance1 and now he was 
to play with ideas4444 as he  had       

previously played with words and images4
      ,,ii      ,gourmont's literary    
career was particularly identified with 
the  notable ,french ,review1 the       
,mercure de ,france4 ,how he came to    
join  the staff of that organ is        
interestingly recounted by ,louis       
,dumur1 in  the same obituary note from 
which the above quotation was           
translated4  ,incidentally we obtain a  
glimpse of the young man just as he was 
emerging into note4    ,the great writer
 whom we have just lost1 wrote ,m4      
,dumur1 was to us  more than a friend1  
better than a master3 he seemed to us   
the most  complete representative1 the  
very expression1--in all its aspects and
  in all its complexity1--of our        
literary generation4    ,when1 in the   
autumn of #ahhi1 the small group which  
proposed to found  the ,mercure de      
,france thought first of adding several 
collaborators  to its number1 while one 
went off in search of ,jules ,renard1   
another  invited ,julien ,leclercq and a

 third promised the assistance of       
,albert ,samain1--the late lamented     
,louis ,denise1 who was at that time    
cataloguer of the ,bibliothque          
,nationale1 said to us3    ,there is at 
the ,library an extraordinary man who   
knows everything4 ,he  has already      
published ten volumes and a hundred     
articles upon every  conceivable        
subject4    ,we don't need a scholar1   
nor a polygraph1 but rather a writer    
who'll  be one of us4    ',all he asks  
is to be one of us1' declared ,denise4  
',he is filled with  admiration for     
,mallarm and swears only by ,villiers de
 l',isle ,adam4 ,at  the present moment 
he's writing a novel that will be a     
revelation4'    ',bring along your      
prodigy4'    ,that prodigy was ,remy de 
,gourmont4    ,we did not know him1 not 
even by name1 despite his vast literary 
labors4 ,he lived in seclusion4 ,he did 
not frequent any of our literary        
rendezvous4 ,he was never seen at the   
,franois ,ier1 nor at the ,vachette1    

nor at the ,voltaire1 nor at the        
,chat-,noir1 nor at the                 
,nouvelle-,athnes4  ,he had not written 
for any of our little reviews1 of which 
he was later  to become the             
well-informed historian4 ,his signature 
had not appeared  in the columns of     
,lutce1 la ,vogue1 the ,decadent1 the   
,symboliste1  the ,scapin1 the ,ecrits  
pour l',art1 nor in la ,pliade4    ,but 
if we did not know him1 he knew us all1 
together with the  ,acadiens1 the       
,lapons1 the ,italian verists1 the      
,english novelists1 the  ,american      
humorists1 the ,jesuits1 balloons1      
volcanos1 the thousand  subjects upon   
which his learning and his curiosity had
 exercised  themselves4 ,in publishing  
houses whose existence we did not       
suspect or  in papers we were hardly    
familiar with1 we1 too1 in conjunction  
with  the still obscure and mysterious  
esthetic movement which we aspired  to  
represent1 formed the object of his     
labors and his meditations4  ,this      

newcomer knew more about our interests  
than we did ourselves4 ,he  had read our
 most insignificant essays4 ,he shared  
our enthusiasms1  our antipathies1      
participated in our intellectual        
research1 discerned  our tendencies1    
penetrated into our intentions1 which   
already he  was arranging to formulate1 
and to formulate for us with as keen a  
perspicuity and clarity as were         
permitted by the concerted imprecision  
of our thought and the hazy1 delicately 
shaded1 sublimated art that we  had just
 established4    ,from his very first   
pages in the ,mercure de ,france1--those
 ,proses  moroses which were so perfect 
in form1 so rare in expression and of   
such singular subtlety1--he revealed    
himself as an expert artist  in the new 
coloring1 and produced exquisite models 
of the refined  genre which charmed us4 
,in that same year1 #ahij1 he published 
through  the firm of ,savine the novel  
that ,denise had spoken about to us1    
that ,sixtine which at once consecrated 

him as a coming master in  the exacting 
eyes of our cenacles4 ',a novel of      
cerebral life1'--a  precious            
subtitle1--and one could find nothing   
better to suggest the  full significance
 of this book1 which is of disturbing   
originality4  ,nothing took place in it 
which the regular public calls by the   
name  of 'action'2 everything in it1    
was1 indeed1 'cerebral4' ,it was filled 
with a minute1 probing analysis4 ,the   
hero did not love so much as  he        
observed himself in the process of      
loving4 ,it was charming1  complicated1 
and marvellously written4    ,at the    
times of its appearance the reaction    
against naturalism and  the so-called   
'psychological' school of ,bourget was  
at its height4444  ,symbolism had been  
born1--musical1 suggestive1 indirect4   
,but if  symbolism had produced its     
work1 it had not yet found its formulas4
  ,there was interminable and           
indefatigable discussion as to just what
  symbolism was4 ,and it was ,remy de   

,gourmont who undertook to define it4   
,he himself brought to it perfect and   
delicate products4 ,among these1 in     
poetry and prose1 were les ,litanies de 
la ,rose1 ,lilith1 le ,fantme1  ,fleurs 
de ,jadis1 ,hieroglyphes and the        
dramatic poem ,thodat1 which  was given 
at the ,thtre d',art at the same time as
 ,maeterlinck's les  ,aveugles1         
,laforgue's le ,concile ferique and that
 ,cantique des  ,cantiques by ,renaird1 
which was accompanied by a luminous1    
fragrant  musical score so that1 by an  
appropriate harmony of sounds1 voices1  
colors and perfumes1 all the senses     
might be conjointly struck by the  same 
symbol4    ,of ,gourmont's services to  
the movement into which he was thus     
introduced ,camille ,mauclair1 one of   
,mallarm's intimate friends1 has        
written3    ,the theories of the        
,symbolists were presented and condensed
 in  excellent fashion in the numerous  
books and critical articles by ,remy  de
 ,gourmont1 who was not only a most     

original novelist and a perfect  artist 
in prose1 but also one of the most      
remarkable essayists of  the nineteenth 
century1 characterized by an astonishing
 wealth of  ideas1 a rare erudition1 and
 an intellectual flexibility that       
assured  him philosophical as well as   
esthetic culture4 ,moralist1 logician1  
poet1 intuitive as well as deductive1   
passionate lover of ideas1 ,remy  de    
,gourmont possessed also the merit of   
being a voluntary recluse1  exceedingly 
proud1 clinging tenaciously to his      
liberty1 disdaining all  fame1 living as
 a solitary spirit and as a man truly   
above all social  prejudices4 ,his      
irony1 which excluded neither emotion   
nor faith1 was  but the effect of a deep
 scorn of mediocracy4444 ,his whole life
 was  a model of independence4444 ,remy 
de ,gourmont1 better than any other1    
formulated the idealism which was at the
 bottom of the ,symbolist  doctrine4    
,among these services to the new        
movement were ,gourmont's penetrating   

studies of such figures as ,mallarm and 
,verlaine1 ,huysmans and the  de        
,goncourts1 ,rimbaud1 ,corbire1         
,villiers de l',isle ,adam1 ,barbey     
d',aurevilly1 ,stendhal1 ,baudelaire1   
,maurice de ,guerin1 ,gerard de ,nerval1
  ,aloysius ,bertrand4 ,were it not for 
,gourmont1 some of these would  perhaps 
never have been known1 and it does      
little credit to our own  poetic        
advancement that some of them are still 
but names to ,american  readers4 ,his   
two ,livres des ,masques are regarded as
 the beginnings  of a history of the    
,symbolist period1 which he never found 
time to  complete4 ,although many of the
 writers were1 at the time ,gourmont    
considered them here1 at the beginning  
of their careers1 he seized  upon their 
distinguishing traits with a rare       
insight1 and revealed  such coming      
celebrities as ,maeterlinck1 ,verhaeren1
 ,rgnier1 ,samain1  ,viel-,griffin1     
,tailhade1 ,paul ,adam1 ,gide1          
,laforgue1 ,moras1 ,merril1  ,rachilde1 

,kahn1 ,jammes1 ,paul ,fort1 ,mauclair1 
,claudel1 ,bataille1 ,ghil4  ,he had a  
discerning eye for the painters1 too1   
and revealed as well as  defended       
,whistler1 ,van ,gogh1 ,gauguin1 and    
others4    ,despite their modest titles1
 the ,promenades philosophiques and the 
,promenades littraires have been called 
without doubt the most  important       
critical works of our epoch4 ,it is from
 the former that  the essays contained  
in this book are taken2 they reveal1 in 
striking  degree1 the thought and the   
attitude of their famous author1 and may
  suggest1 though within the limits that
 all translation connotes1  particularly
 when dealing with so remarkable a      
stylist1 the charm1 the  simplicity1 and
 the clarity of his writing4      ,,iii 
,despite the fact that his funeral      
services occurred during the height  of 
the war--he was born on ,april #d1 #aheh
 and died on ,september #bg1            
#aiae--they were attended by a numerous 
gathering of mourners who1  in their    

very cosmopolitan nature seemed to      
symbolize the universal  influence of   
the departed genius4 ,tributes were paid
 by ,m4 ,henri de  ,rgnier1 of the      
,french ,academy1 who spoke for the     
,mercure de ,france1  by ,m4 ,georges   
,lecomte1 ,president of the ,socit des  
,gens de ,lettres1  who spoke in the    
name of that society1 by ,m4 ,maurice   
,ajam1 for the  newspaper ,la ,france1  
by ,m4 ,fernand ,mazade1 in the name of 
la ,depche  de ,toulouse1 to which ,remy
 de ,gourmont was a contributor1 by     
,xavier  ,carvalho1 in the name of the  
,portuguese and ,brazilian press1 and by
 ,m4  ,juliot ,piquet1 in the name of   
the great ,buenos ,aires daily ,la      
,nacin  for which ,gourmont wrote4      
,rgnier paid particular attention to the
 critical labors of the  deceased4      
,gourmont1 he said1 was an incomparable 
critic1 in turn  a scholar untainted by 
pedantry1 deep without obscurity1       
ingenious  to the point of paradox1     
sincere to the point of contradiction1  

but  ever mindful of the truth1--a      
critic in the manner of ,montaigne1 of  
inexhaustible variety of means1 of the  
most candid independence1--a  critic who
 is polemist1 dilettante1 imaginative   
spirit and poet1 and  above all1 a man1 
exceedingly human in his alternations of
 skepticism  and faith4 ,lecomte pointed
 out the nobility of the man's origin1  
and  the significance of his ancestral  
connection with ,franois ,malherbe1  the
 great stylist of a former age4 ,ajam1  
like most who have commented  on the man
 at all1 was struck with his paradoxical
 nature4 ,a democrat  of aristocratic   
cast1 an atheist filled with devotion1  
an anarchist  characterized by order1 an
 agitated spirit infused with calm1 he  
was a  human and a divine paradox4      
,the tributes by ,carvalho and ,piquet  
are of particular significance4  ,at a  
rime when even ,spain1 the mother       
country1 was indifferent to and         
ignorant of the literary accomplishments
 of its ,american colonies1 ,remy  de   

,gourmont had lent himself to the       
interpretation and the revelation  of   
the new literary world across the seas4 
,he translated1 criticised  and         
supported an almost unknown continental 
literature4 ,he even went so  far as to 
invent the term neo-espagnol            
7neo-,spanish7 for the modified         
,spanish spoken in the various republics
 of the ,new ,world1--a proceeding      
which though philologists may consider  
it rash1 may yet be considered          
premature rather than totally mistaken4 
,and in any event it shows the  man's   
ready response to new currents in speech
 and thought1 whether  native or        
foreign4 ,by his precious writings for  
the reviews and the  great dailies of   
,argentina and ,brazil1 said ,carvalho1 
he rendered  lasting service to the     
neo-,latin literatures4 ,m4 ,piquet's   
speech was  short1 yet pithy in its     
evidence of an entire continent's       
appreciation4    ,i should not venture  
to approach this tomb if ,i did not     

possess in  this solemn moment the      
impersonality of a symbol4    ,a few    
words will suffice for me to fulfil in  
its formal character the  dolorous and  
too burdensome task that accident has   
imposed upon me4  ,i come1 in the name  
of the journal ,la ,nacin of ,buenos    
,ayres1 to  pay the last respects to its
 former contributor ,remy de ,gourmont1 
the  writer1 the thinker who1 for many  
years1 helped in powerful measure to    
maintain1 on the distant shores of the  
,la ,plata1 admiration and love  for the
 land of clarity and moderation1 justice
 and liberty1 of which  he was one of   
the purest glories4      ,,iv      ,the 
complete works of ,remy de ,gourmont    
cover almost every form of  intellectual
 activity4 ,he seems equally at home in 
criticism1 in  creative effort1 novel1  
play1 poem1 philosophy 7,nietzsche owes 
much to him for his intellectual        
acclimatization in ,france71 in the     
transvaluation of moral values1 in      
social criticism1 in certain  aspects of

 science1 in philology1 in the          
renovation of rhetoric4 ,in  his divers 
attitudes and in his varied researches1 
says ,dumur1 he  was the expression of  
our instable epoch4444 ,when the most   
distant  posterity shall wish to form an
 idea of what we were between the years 
of yesterday's estheticism and          
tomorrow's neo-classic realism1 of what 
our immense literary production was1 of 
what the generation was which  bridged  
the conflict of #ahgj and the great war 
which began in #aiad1 the  page it will 
have to read will be signed ,remy de    
,gourmont4    ,the importance of this   
writer1 however1 cannot be limited to   
,france2 by  token of his broad1        
tolerant humanism and his dynamic method
 he belongs  to the literature that     
abolishes boundaries and epochs4        
,,helv,,tius ,,and ,,the ,,philosophy   
,,of ,,happiness      ,m4 ,helvtius1 in 
his youth1 says ,chamfort1 was as       
handsome as love  itself4 ,one evening1 
as he was seated very peacefully before 

an open  fire1 at the side of ,mile4    
,gaussin1 a renowned financier came and 
whispered into this actress's ear1 loud 
enough for ,helvtius to hear3           
',mademoiselle1 would it be agreeable to
 you to accept six hundred louis  in    
exchange for a few                      
favors8'--',monsieur1' she replied1 loud
 enough to  be heard by ,helvtius1 and  
pointing to him at the same time1 ',i'll
 give  you two hundred of them if you   
will kindly call on me tomorrow morning 
with that fellow over there4'           
,helvtius was not content with being    
very handsome4 ,he was also  exceedingly
 wise1 very rich1 and very happy4 ,no   
mortal1 perhaps1  received so many gifts
 from the gods1 the rarest of which was 
,mme4  ,helvtius1 one of the most       
charming and gifted women of the        
eighteenth  century4 ,like her husband1 
she was very beautiful1--so beautiful   
that  persons paused1 struck with       
admiration1 to look at her4 ,there is1  
in  this connection1--quoting again from

 ,chamfort1 a very pretty anecdote3     
,m4 de ,fontenelle1 aged ninety-seven1  
having just uttered to ,mme4  ,helvtius1
 young1 beautiful and newly wed1 a      
thousand amiable and  gallant remarks1  
passed by her to take his place at      
table1 without  raising his eyes to her4
 ',you can see1' said ,mme4 ,helvtius1  
'how much  stock ,i may take in your    
compliments2 you pass me by without so  
much as  looking at me4' ',madame1'     
replied the old man1 'if ,i had looked  
at you1  ,i would not have passed by4'  
,happiness is often egotistical4 ,it is 
even a question whether a  certain      
egotism is not necessary to the         
acquirement of a certain  happiness4    
,helvtius gave a peremptory denial to   
these sorry notions4  ,happy himself1 he
 had but one passion3 the happiness of  
humanity4 ,he  noticed1 in his          
observation of mankind1 that the natural
 desire to  be happy1 which each of us  
bears within1 is opposed by a thousand  
prejudices1 the most terrible of which  

are the religious prejudices1  and he   
determined to combat them with all his  
strength4 ,m4 ,albert ,keim1  who knows 
,helvtius better than any other man in  
,france1 has just  republished certain  
notes written in the philosopher's hand2
 the first  of which runs thus3         
,prejudices4 ,they are to the mind what 
ministers are to monarchs4 ,the  latter 
prevent their rivals from approaching   
the king1 and in the same  way          
prejudices prevent truths from reaching 
the mind1 for fear of  losing the power 
they usurp over it4    ,one of the most 
widespread prejudices is that which     
considers  it impossible to attain      
happiness2 as that does not prevent us  
from desiring it1 such an idea corrupts 
life and often renders it  unbearable4  
,priests have believed that they could  
remedy this by  inventing a second life1
 where the person who has consented to  
be  quite unhappy in the first will find
 at last a sort of equivocal  happiness1
 little calculated to tempt one of      

intelligence4 ,the  people1             
nevertheless1 snap at this bait and     
accept1 in view of future  recompense1  
the direst tribulations of the present  
life4 ,thus a  frightful slavery is     
perpetuated1 for it is very evident that
 all  this is nothing but a hoax and an 
imposition4 ,whoever wishes to taste    
happiness1 if this word stands for      
anything more than a dream1 should  set 
about it in this life1 since the other  
one is but a chimera1  lucrative for the
 clergy alone4 ,but how be happy8       
,through virtue8 ,very  well1 what is   
virtue8    ,virtue1 replies ,helvtius1  
is only the wisdom which harmonizes     
passion with reason and pleasure with   
duty4    ,he assigns a large place in   
life to pleasures and passions2 but he  
does not consider them only as elements 
of happiness2 he makes of them  sources 
of activity4 ,man instinctively seeks   
pleasure4 ,when he has  experienced it1 
and later loses it1 he will work with   
all his might  to win it anew4 ,all     

forms of pleasure1 then1 are easily     
reconcilable  to virtue4 ,who knows     
whether pleasure taken in wise          
moderation is not  virtue itself8 ,and  
he dares to write this maxim1 which will
 perhaps  frighten some3 ,one is never  
guilty when one is happy4 ,helvtius1 who
  was a very gentle and kind person1 is 
often1 in his writings1 rashly  bold4   
,his intimate notes are violent1        
impassioned1 even brutal4 ,he  speaks in
 them of love with magnificent          
frankness1 and one readily  divines that
 it is chiefly in the exercise of this  
amiable virtue that  he found happiness4
    ,i am not at all writing here a     
study of ,helvtius1 one of the most     
skilful demolishers of the ancient      
regime2 ,i am running through a         
portfolio of private notes1 printed at  
first in a few copies1 and the  reading 
of which will reveal at once an         
ingenious philosopher and the  most     
spirited of poets4 ,he is1 on the       
subject of love1 inexhaustible2  he is  

in turn tender1 subtle1 passionate1     
raving4 ,his delirious attacks  are of a
 beautiful candor2 the majority of his  
thoughts are charming  and most         
seductive3 ,each moment of pleasure is a
 gift of the gods4    ,this verse1 which
 would be greatly admired and celebrated
 if it had  been found in ,andr         
,chenier1--does it truly come from the  
pen of  ,helvtius8 ,this is what ,m4    
,albert ,keim asks himself4 ,that is a  
query  to propound to the erudite       
spirits of l',intermdiaire1 who have    
read  all the old authors2 in the       
meantime ,i consider it as being highly 
characteristic of the philosophy and the
 poetry of the author of  ,bonheur      
7,happiness74 ,one can imagine nothing  
more pagan1 more gently                 
anti-,christian4 ,and anti-,christianism
 is the real basis of ,helvtius'        
philosophy4 ,he oversteps the bounds a  
trifle when he adds3 ,pleasure  is the  
sole occupation of life4 ,the ardor of  
this young man is  excessive4 ,he       

himself will soon learn and declare that
 life has other  employments1 such1 for 
example1 as composing a philosophy4     
,his second motto will be3 ,minerva and 
,venus in turn1 which is  wisdom itself2
 he will devote himself to plucking at  
once the fruits  of reason and the      
fruits of pleasure4 ,he is forever      
recurring to  voluptuousness1 whose     
images pursue him3 ,who takes all       
pleasures takes  very few of them4 ,love
 to him is the most noble of passions   
because it  is the fecund passion and   
mother of life4 ,this is what makes him 
say3  ,it is not1 moreover1 without a   
certain secret melancholy1 for1 he      
avers1 ,the flower that one plucks is   
ready to wither4    ,do you wish to see 
him in his rle of a serious philosopher8
 ,he will  say1 as if he foresaw the war
 against science1 in which1 in our own  
days1 we have seen the ,veuillots and   
the ,brunetires distinguish  themselves3
 ,there are things over which the veil  
of skepticism should  be spread2 but1 in

 the matter of science1 it would be     
necessary1 in  order to win the right of
 skepticism1 to know all that the human 
mind  may learn3 then one might permit  
himself to declare that science is      
nothing4 ,like the modern positivists1  
like ,renan1 remarks ,m4 ,keim1         
,helvtius had the greatest confidence in
 science4 ,he is forever  celebrating   
the triumphs of human intelligence4 ,he 
believes in  progress1 in the           
transformation of society by the        
scientific mind4 ,thus  he launched a   
powerful attack against ,rousseau's     
thesis upon the ills  of civilization4  
,yet at times one notes in him a little 
discouragement1  and he will confess3   
,almost all philosophical views are     
worthless4 ,not  that they are not      
excellent1 but because there are too few
 persons who  can understand them4      
,the number of persons who can          
understand ,helvtius has greatly        
increased1 and besides1 it is not so    
difficult as he believed2 all one  needs

 is a little common sense4 ,it is a good
 sign of our intellectual  health that  
,helvtius is coming back into fashion4  
,tomorrow it will  be d',holbach1       
d',alembert1 ,tracy1 the master of      
,stendhal1--all those                   
eighteenth-century philosophers who are 
so clear1 so simple1 so human4  ,the    
absurd ,german metaphysics has          
annihilated them for sixty years1  but  
it seems that the day of their revenge  
has come4 ,the dry notion of  abstract  
duty according to ,kant has outlived its
 day4 ,it is beginning  to be understood
 that man's first duty is to be happy4  
,otherwise1 what  is the use of living8 
,,the ,,player',s ,,illusion      ,the  
player at games of skill is always      
tempted to attribute to himself  a      
capacity superior to his real power4    
,such is the theorem advanced  in a     
curious study1 half psychological and   
half algebraic1 by an  ,algerian        
engineer1 ,monsieur ,v4 ,cornetz4 ,the  
player's desire to win1  the            

recollection of his past successes1 his 
confidence in himself1  necessarily     
cause him1 at a given moment1 to think  
himself stronger  than he really is4 ,so
 that1 if he wins1 he is not surprised2 
but if he  loses1 he will tell himself3 
,i could have done better2 ,i didn't do 
my best1 ,i didn't concentrate all my   
attention4 ,for such an estimate  of    
himself to be just1 it would be         
necessary for the player to base  the   
idea of his strength not only upon the  
average of his previous  victories1 but 
also of his defeats4 ,self-conceit1     
however1 prevents  unsuccessful contests
 from coming to his mind to             
counterbalance the  remembrance of his  
winnings4 ,it comes about1 then1 that   
the player  constantly overrates        
himself1 and in all good faith4         
,whatever be  his character1 he is never
 tempted to attribute to himself a value
  less than his real worth4 ,the modesty
 of certain players is all upon  the    
surface and the mistrust of themselves1 

which they proclaim1 is  transformed    
into excessive confidence as soon as the
 game has begun4  ,a player is a man who
 always compares himself to other men4  
,he judges  himself1 not as an          
individual independent of his           
surroundings1 but  under the pressure of
 a vanity that is ever egged on by the  
presence of  rival vanities4 ,the moment
 two such vanities clash1 each of       
necessity  seeks victory1 and begins by 
attributing to itself1 without the least
  regard for reality1 the strength      
necessary for success4 ,to accept the   
combat is in itself1 is it not1 to      
believe that one is the stronger8       
,monsieur ,cornetz deals particularly   
with the chess-player1 but his          
observations1 as he himself says in his 
preface1 are applicable to  all games   
that are not purely games of chance1 and
 even to athletic  contests1 fencing    
matches1 and one might add1 military    
operations1  even of the most serious   
nature4 ,to wage battle is to play a    

game4  ,this psychology of the player is
 also that of the general4 ,how many    
battles have been lost because the      
general overestimated himself4 ,how     
many governments even have fallen       
because they were abandoned to the      
illusions of their self-conceit6 ,does  
not ,napoleon ,,iii gayly setting  out  
for the frontier provide the spectacle  
par excellence of the player  who       
overrates himself8 ,there is no such    
thing as a disinterested  contest2 the  
dullest game of cards excites in the    
opponents a certain  desire to win4 ,the
 very persons who boasted of their      
entire detachment  are often the most   
eager to win once the game has started2 
they enter  into it excitedly and when  
worsted keep watching for a favorable   
opening4 ,those players who believe that
 they play the game for the sole        
interest of its combinations1 its       
emotions1 are then1 admitting their     
good faith1 the victims of an illusion3 
they judge themselves to be  other than 

they are4 ,this is a rather common      
attitude in life4 ,we all  of us believe
 ourselves more or less to be other than
 we really are2  so much so that an     
ingenious philosopher1 ,m4 ,jules de    
,gaultier1 has  created a special term  
by which to denominate this universal   
penchant4  ,he calls it ,bovarysm1      
referring to the heroine of ,flaubert's 
novel1  who thought herself a grande    
amoureuse when she was really nothing   
but a poor little sick woman4 ,the      
player who pretends that he plays       
without any interest in victory is      
afflicted with ,bovarysm4 ,but  perhaps 
he is also intent upon shielding his    
self-conceit in case  of failure4       
,beaten1 he will vow that he had as good
 a time as if he  had won4 ,this is a   
manner of self-consolation that does not
 lack a  certain elegance4 ,the fox who 
found the grapes too sour has furnished 
us with a charming example of this      
disdainful attitude4 ,m4 ,cornetz  has  
seen1 in ,algiers1 on an old ,arabian   

chess-board1 this motto3 ,the  loser    
always has his excuse4 ,the basis of    
these excuses is this3 ,i  should have  
played otherwise4 ,if ,i had used such  
and such a pawn1 or  queen1 or card1 ,i 
would doubtless have won4 ,who has not  
been present  at those post mortems     
where the players forget only this1 that
 they  know1 at the moment of           
discussion1 things that they did not    
know while  the game was in full swing8 
,the truth is that at a given moment1   
when  one is seriously playing the game1
 one is playing as well as he can1  no  
more and no less4 ,the loser has an     
excuse2 very well4 ,but it is  precisely
 because he is the loser4 ,the winner   
needs none4 ,to be winner  is a fact2 to
 be loser is another4 ,there is in facts
 a logic1 and the  reason of the        
strongest is always the best4 ,to       
believe1 when one has  been beaten1 that
 one might not have been1 is by that    
very fact to  suppose that one might1 at
 that moment1 have been another person1 

which  is absurd4 ,but perhaps this     
illusion is due to inevitable causes4   
,the  chief point is1 as ,i have already
 said1 that at the moment when we have  
been beaten we recall1 not our former   
defeats1 but rather our former          
victories1 and the victories only4 ,we  
attribute to ourselves a general        
capability1 a capability that is a      
matter of principle1 and which may  not 
be shaken by an accidental momentary    
inferiority4 ,it never occurs  to us1   
our vanity prevents it1 that our real   
worth is probably but  a fairly         
equitable composite of equally          
accidental inferiorities and            
superiorities4 ,the balance will always 
incline toward the side of our          
self-conceit4    ,it should be          
recognized that1 if this illusion of our
 self-conceit has  its great            
inconveniences1 if it vitiates our      
critical judgment1 not  only of         
ourselves but of others1 if it betrays  
us into false estimates1  it possesses1 

on the other hand1 great advantages4    
,the illusion  that accompanies man in  
the course of his life1 says ,m4        
,cometz1 is  a necessary condition of   
existence1 a precious product of the    
vital  instinct4 ,the man who           
overestimates himself is also he who is 
capable  of surpassing himself4 ,it is  
necessary1 in this great game of life1  
to  have confidence in oneself4 ,if one 
estimated oneself only at his proper    
value1 one would not estimate himself   
sufficiently4 ,if we did not grant  to  
ourselves a power superior to our real  
power1 we would never dare to  undertake
 the impossible2 now it is perhaps only 
the impossible that is  worthy of being 
undertaken4 ,from the purely practical  
point of view1  if the end to be        
attained were not embellished by        
illusion1 would we  ever set about the  
task8 ,it is well for a man1 after a    
game of chess1  to be able to say in all
 simplicity3 ,i could have played       
otherwise4  ,that is not true1 of       

course1 but it may create in the future 
a great  truth4 ,error is a great       
generator of truths4 ,the truth of today
 has  its root in the error of          
yesterday4 ,illusions have often created
 real  powers4 ,you could do better1    
says the teacher to his pupil4 ,he thus 
implants in the child's mind a belief1  
an idea which will at once  engender a  
hope1 and in the future1 a force4 ,then 
let us not scoff too  gayly at the      
player who has such firm confidence in  
himself4 ,doubtless  this selfsame      
confidence will lead him to accept      
unequal battles in  which he will be    
worsted2 but it will happen also that he
 will emerge  victor from struggles into
 which he would not have dared to       
venture  had not beneficent illusion    
considerably magnified in his eyes his  
real capacity4 ,and finally1 it happens 
in many cases that the real  worth of a 
person coincides with the estimate      
placed upon him by his  self-conceit4   
,one need not trust to it too much2 it's

 only a matter of  a game4 ,on the other
 hand one need not on that account fear 
to repeat  the old proverb3 ,nothing    
venture1 nothing have4 ,all languages of
  the world have similar proverbs4 ,this
 helps to show that all peoples  have   
recognized that certain efforts are     
impossible without certain  illusions1  
and that1 of all principles of action1  
the most powerful and  the most fruitful
 is still self-confidence4              
,,the ,,beyond      ,much is being said 
of the beyond in these days1 perhaps    
because people  no longer believe in it4
 ,then there is ,eusapia ,palladino1    
whose  performances1 it seems1 favor    
mysterious beliefs4 ,tables dance and   
tilt1 violins play by themselves1 and   
this puts perspicacious folk on  the    
road to the beyond4 ,huysmans was       
converted in just this way4 ,it is  far 
easier to confuse the human reason than 
the laws of gravity4    ,nevertheless1  
what is the beyond8 ,i believe only in  
that country which  ,i can locate4      

,where do you place it8 ,the spirits    
locate it about  us4 ,do you wish to    
speak with ,mme4 de ,montespan8 ,here   
she is4 ,with  ,napoleon8 ,he hastens to
 respond4 ,would you consult ,saint     
,anthony in  regard to some lost object8
 ,nothing more easy4 ,the inhabitants of
 die  beyond are at our disposal4 ,they 
come as soon as they are bidden and     
reply most gently4 ,and in order to     
prove that the two realms bear a  strong
 resemblance to each other1 they are    
even glad to talk plenty of  nonsense3  
their intelligence never rises above the
 level of those who  summon them4       
,this benevolent and familiar beyond    
does not1 however1 win universal        
approval4 ,the immense majority of      
believers need a truly mysterious       
beyond1 one that shall be inaccessible  
and unfathomable4 ,where is this        
beyond8 ,yonder1 yonder1 very far       
away4--,but just where8--,far1 far off1 
,i tell you2 farther than you could ever
 calculate4--,and how are you  assured  

of its reality8--,by reason itself4 ,it 
is impossible that man  should die      
totally4 ,this is proved by his very    
desire for immortality4    ,the early   
,christians were not in the least       
embarrassed in the matter  of placing   
heaven4 ,they beheld it on high1 beyond 
the clouds1 in a  brilliant1 serene     
region4 ,christ1 by his ascension1 had  
shown them the  way4 ,the expression has
 gone into the language3 to rise to     
heaven4  ,it no longer means anything   
since it has become known that the earth
  rotates on its own axis and that1     
consequently1 there is for us in  space 
neither above nor below4 ,in order to   
rise to heaven at midnight  one would   
have to take the same direction by      
which1 at noon1 he would  descend4      
,heaven1 then1 cannot be situated on    
high4 ,as to hell1 which  was formerly  
placed in the interior of the earth1 let
 us not speak4  ,the theologians of     
today make many reservations as to hell2
 they have  learned that the prospect of

 cooking eternally in a huge caldron is 
not of a nature to excite much religious
 enthusiasm in the crowds4 ,the  beyond 
to which we are invited is a benign     
place4 ,it is not quite the  paradise of
 ,mahomet2 it is that of ,fnlon1--a     
perfumed landscape  where the streams   
are of milk1 the pebbles of candy1 the  
soil of  chocolate4 ,it still remains to
 locate this celestial confectionery in 
space4    ,some have thought of the     
planets4 ,but suppose they are really   
inhabited1 as ,m4 ,flammarion hopes1 and
 as is moreover fairly probable8  ,then 
let us seek farther1 farther still4 ,let
 us question the uttermost              
stars1--those which our naked eye cannot
 see1--even those that the  telescopes  
will never discover4    ,their answer is
 known4 ,they reply that they are       
worlds1 suns1  surrounded by earths1    
some living like ours1 others dead like 
the moon4  ,analogy permits us to       
believe that what we do not see         
resembles greatly  what we do see4 ,if  

we were transported to the regions where
 simple  folk place the beyond1 we would
 turn back to our own earth and say1    
doubtless3 ,the beyond is situated      
yonder4    ,there is no reasonably      
conceivable beyond4 ,the entire universe
 is  built upon the same plan and its   
component parts are limited by  nothing4
 ,an immensity in which grains of sand  
whirl about at the mercy  of the wind of
 infinity4    ,beyond--,beyond what8    
,one must know what he is talking about4
 ,we are  creatures habituated to       
precision4 ,when a man of the           
fourteenth-century  thought of future   
life1 his notion was very simple1 but   
fairly clear4  ,he beheld the blessed   
ranged upon the steps of a vast stage4  
,in the  background was an organ1 played
 by an angel1 and the music was so sweet
  that the whole audience was           
spell-bound3 and this was to continue   
for  all eternity6 ,today we would with 
difficulty accept such a paradise       
fashioned in the manner familiar to the 

devotees of large concerts4 ,a  little  
variety would be welcome4 ,the taste for
 extended travel1 for  example1 has     
gradually influenced the notion that    
certain persons  form of the blessed    
life4 ,whereupon it becomes a paradise  
for ,cook's  tourists4 ,excursions are  
made to the rings of ,saturn1 just as1  
in their  earthly life1 they journeyed  
to the ,white ,nile or to ,japan4       
,somewhat  farther than the first1 but  
of the same genre4    ,the most ardent  
travelers rise1 in their imaginations1  
from sun to  sun1 thrilled with the idea
 of a never-ending exploration filled   
with  ever-renewed wonders4    ,these   
perpetual vacations seem a bit boresome 
to me4 ,what will be  proposed to me    
next8 ,here are the modern religions and
 philosophies1  the ,christians and the 
spiritualists1 who offer me the         
contemplation of  ,god4 ,very well4 ,but
 ,god is no more admirable in the rings 
of ,saturn or  in ,sirius than in the   
wings of a butterfly or in the eyes of a

 woman4  ,what next8 ,wait4 ,you speak  
of a woman1--doubtless of her whom you  
love8  ,here is the paradise of         
,mahomet1 with its white1 buxom houris1 
their  hands ever perfumed1 their       
caresses ever new4    ,yes1 that is more
 tempting4 ,it is human1 at least4 ,but 
do the women1  too1 find lovers to their
 taste there8 ,this paradise bears too  
much  resemblance to a conquered town1  
where the victors disport themselves    
with the women captives4 ,and it        
resembles altogether too much something 
less honest4 ,at the end of an hour ,i  
should feel like leaving4    ,well1     
suppose we remain upon earth1 after all8
 ,suppose we bravely  accept the death  
of our dreams at the same time as the   
death of our  bodies8 ,this beyond is   
decidedly uncertain1 quite vague and    
mobile4 ,i  do not believe that it      
exists everywhere2 ,i believe that it is
 nowhere  except in our infantile       
imaginations4 ,born with us1 it will end
 at the  same moment that we do1 to be  

born anew in our posterity4    ,the     
beyond is the earthly tomorrow1 as we   
bequeath it to our heirs and  as they   
modify it by their efforts and in       
accordance with their tastes4           
,,the ,,question ,,of ,,free ,,will     
,those physicians were wise who1 at a   
recent congress1 voted to refuse  making
 any statement upon the problems of     
responsibility propounded to  them by   
the courts4 ,what does responsibility   
mean8 ,where does it begin8  ,what are  
its boundaries8 ,one finds himself here 
not in the presence  of a question of   
simple legal medicine2 to speak of      
responsibility  is to speak of free     
will1 and to speak of free will is to be
 plunged  into the fundamental mysteries
 of human philosophy4 ,these mysteries1 
to tell the truth1 are mysteries only   
because it is to man's interest  that   
things should be so4 ,we are accustomed 
to consider human acts  as free acts1   
voluntarily consented to2 the adoption  
of a contrary  view would so interfere  

with our habits that social life would  
become  exceedingly difficult4 ,our     
teachers or experience have taught us   
that  our body is capable of two kinds  
of movement1--the one involuntary and   
necessary1 such as respiration1 or the  
circulation of the blood1 and  the other
 voluntary1 accomplished at will1--the  
movement of our limbs1  our tongue1 our 
lips4 ,but a closer examination would   
soon show us that  this division is very
 arbitrary4 ,it is impossible for us to 
make our  heart stop beating2 but is it 
really possible to stop our finger from 
moving1 and if it is1 for how long8 ,we 
can cease eating3 but for how  long8 ,we
 can even stop breathing2 for how long8 
,in reality1 the freedom  of our bodily 
movements1 if it exists1 is a limited   
freedom1 a freedom  exercised within a  
very narrow circle1--the freedom of a   
prisoner  who can pace back and forth in
 his cell4 ,similarly1 the exercise of  
our external activity is subjected to   
rather strict conditions3 we  can speak1

 walk1 work in a thousand different     
ways1 but during a  certain time only4  
,at the end of this time we feel that   
our freedom  is exhausted we are at the 
end of our chain4 ,there is nothing more
 to  do3 we must obey4 ,in whatever     
direction we may turn we behold looming 
forth the obstacle that will certainly  
bar our way4 ,sometimes there  is       
annexed to the prison a little courtyard
 where we may walk about a  little1 but 
this courtyard is itself only a prison3 
the boundary has  been set back a few   
paces1 that is all4    ,if we now pass  
to the examination of the most delicate 
organs of our  body1--the brain and the 
nervous system1--we see that the motions
  executed within these organs are      
likewise limited in their evolutions4   
,i employ these simple terms expressly1 
that ,i may be better understood4  ,we  
perceive these motions in the form of   
sensations or thoughts4 ,are we  free to
 be hot or cold1 to be hungry or        
thirsty8 ,are we independent  of the    

ideas that come to us1 the images that  
are formed in our mind1  that is to say1
 our brain8 ,no1 most assuredly4 ,at    
least1 then1 we are  free to receive    
them or reject them1 to show them the   
door or smilingly  invite them in8 ,here
 we reach the crux of the question1 for 
it is at  this point that the will      
intervenes4 ,what1 indeed1 is the will8 
,the  will is nothing more than the     
realization1 effected by our mind1 that 
of two motives one is more powerful than
 the other4 ,the will is perhaps  the   
least voluntary and the least free      
element in our make-up4 ,before  it     
declares itself1 we are often in a state
 that gives us the illusion  of liberty4
 ,we are still in ignorance as to       
whether we shall go to  right or to     
left4 ,these moments of vacillation are 
sometimes agreeable  and sometimes      
disagreeable4 ,most often they pass     
unperceived1 and we  find ourselves     
started on one of the two paths1 totally
 unawares4 ,our  will has acted         

mechanically4 ,our mind has worked like 
an automatic  scale4    ,whatever we do1
 there is a cause1 and this cause itself
 depends upon  another1 and so on to    
infinity4 ,if ,i am at this moment      
smoking a cigar1  it is because         
,christopher ,columbus discovered       
,america4 ,the search for  causes leads 
to authentications of this order4 ,but  
our acts have only  a single direct     
cause4 ,several influences have combined
 and weighed  upon the lever4 ,often1   
when we reflect upon the motives for our
 acts1  we imagine that we have found   
them1 yet the most important motive  has
 escaped us4 ,to enter into examples of 
this would be to enter the  absurd2     
,pascal has given one which has become  
famous1--his epigram  about ,cleopatra's
 nose4 ,it is saying little to aver that
 effects and  causes are united like the
 links of a chain4 ,i see effects and   
causes  rather in the guise of an       
extremely complicated fabric1 of which  
every  thread depends upon the others4  

,but such a representation may not be   
made materially4 ,let it suffice for us 
to understand and to admit that  none of
 our actions is the beginning of a      
series4 ,there is only a  single series1
 which does not seem to have had a      
beginning and whose  end it is          
impossible to foresee4                  
,notwithstanding1 we have the sentiment 
of liberty1 and consequently1 of        
responsibility4 ,these are very curious 
illusions and very mysterious1  but     
illusions none the less4 ,among those of
 which our life is composed1  they are  
perhaps the most useful2 they are even  
more1--they are  necessary4 ,we are not 
free1 yet we cannot act except by       
believing  ourselves free4 ,if for a    
moment we actually ceased to believe in 
free will1 we should at once cease to   
act altogether4 ,in his book on         
,duplicisme ,humain1 ,m4 ,camille       
,sabatier has written3 ,liberty is as   
inexplicable as it is certain4 ,it is1  
in my opinion1 the illusion  of liberty 

that is as inexplicable as it is        
certain1 and1 ,i add1  necessary4 ,where
 ,i agree fully with him is when he     
asserts that the  matter presents a     
mystery of our nature4 ,he has attempted
 a most  ingenious explanation1 but     
which1 ,i believe1 leaves still standing
  the determinist objections1 of which  
,i have summarized several of the       
features4 ,it is the eternal opposition 
of feeling and1 not reason but          
reasoning4 ,but it matters little       
whether they teach and adopt one or  the
 other theory2 that could have no       
influence upon the conduct of  men or   
upon their judgments4 ,nor would it have
 any influence upon our  manner of      
looking upon crime and the various      
infractions of the law  and moral       
conventions4 ,if men are free and       
consequently responsible1  there need be
 no change in our judicial institutions4
 ,if men are not  free1 if they are     
irresponsible1 there need still be no   
change1 for a  crime is a crime just the

 same1--always an anti-social act       
against the  repetition of which it is  
necessary to protect ourselves4 ,it even
 seems  that the determinists1 to whom  
,i belong1 would be inclined rather to  
a very severe repression4 ,a philosophic
 doctrine is not necessarily a  social  
doctrine4 ,a determinist1 doubtless1    
could not admit the idea  of punishment1
 but he will readily admit that of      
repression4 ,and it  all comes to the   
same thing4 ,we must live4 ,societies   
have no choice4  ,but it is easy to     
understand why the physicians1 who are  
almost all  determinists1 should have   
resolved not to take a stand upon       
questions  of responsibility4 ,that is  
not within the province of medicine1    
which  should limit itself to declaring 
whether the subject is healthy or ill1  
and to caring for him if he is entrusted
 into its hands4    ,one may1 moreover1 
in agreement with ,dr4 ,grasset1 and    
also with the  facts and common sense1  
admit that there are mentally sick      

persons1 and  that these persons vary as
 to the degree to which they are        
affected1  that is to say1 they are more
 or less conscious1 more or less able   
to resist their impulses4 ,the          
hypothesis of determinism cannot make   
us forget all the visible shades of     
difference between the normal           
individual and the typical madman4 ,the 
normal man receives varied  impressions1
 external and internal2 some impel him  
to action1 others  hold him back3 he    
establishes an equilibrium4 ,normal life
 is nothing  but that1--a state of      
equilibrium1 a static condition4 ,the   
man who is  termed abnormal is1 on the  
contrary1 more or less constantly out of
  balance4 ,he is impelled by one force 
that is not counterbalanced by  another3
 he falls4 ,when the wind blows always  
from the same direction  upon a row of  
pines1 it bends them all in the same    
direction4 ,if the  wind1 though        
violent1 blows alternately from opposite
 directions1 the  trees remain erect4   

,these rows of pines will provide us1   
not with the  image1 but with the schema
 of the normal and the abnormal man4    
,neither  one nor the other1--and the   
man as little as the tree1--is          
responsible  either for the origin1 or  
the power1 or the direction of the wind 
which bends them and straightens them in
 turn or1 on the contrary1  breaks them 
forever as if they were mere reeds2     
there remains however1  the fact1 that  
while the one kept itself erect in a    
healthy posture1  despite occasionally  
rude shocks1 the other1 subjected to a  
constant  pressure1 bent over from day  
to day with its head nearer to the      
ground1  or even1 as the result of a    
more than usually violent tempest1 broke
  altogether4    ,it is a fact1 and one 
must keep it in mind when he passes     
judgment upon  trees or upon men4 ,it is
 a fact1 and that is all4 ,nevertheless1
 if the  tree has been uprooted by a    
violent tempest1 there is nothing left  
but  to call the wood-cutters1 who are  

the judges of trees4 ,if they inquire   
into the cause of the disaster1 it will 
be through pure curiosity2  their       
business does not lie there2 they know  
their duty and will  perform it4        
,when we shall have exhausted all the   
arguments for and against all  the      
degrees of responsibility that may be   
discovered in a healthy or  a sick      
person1 we shall find ourselves in      
agreement with the social  wood-cutters1
 with the magistrates1 on the necessity 
of removing  and forever ridding society
 of him4 ,then1 having once more become 
philosophers1 we shall try to reach     
agreement upon this point3 that  it is a
 matter not of administering punishment 
but of preserving  ourselves2 our       
interest should be centered not upon the
 author1 but  the purpose of the crime4 
,let us not even speak of crime2 let us 
speak  of danger4 ,ah6 ,how simple it   
all would be1 or at least more simple   
than at present1 if the notion of       
criminal act was superseded by that  of 

dangerous act4 ,the idea of crime is a  
metaphysical idea2 the idea  of danger  
is a social idea4 ,the opinions of ,,mm4
 ,baudin1 ,faguet and de  ,fleury1 which
 frighten ,m4 ,grasset1 are in principle
 highly acceptable4  ,on the occasion of
 each new crime society cannot institute
 a new  philosophical debate nor set    
about resolving questions which1 ever   
since there have been men who think1    
have troubled human thought4 ,for  some 
time they have not been asking the jury 
for their opinion upon  the materiality 
of a fact2 they subject them to an      
examination in  philosophy4 ,it's       
ridiculous4    ,there are on one side   
the assassins and on the other the      
assassinated4  ,what difference does it 
make to me whether the fellow who'll    
split my  head be an apache or a        
lunatic8 ,what does matter to me1 is to 
live4  ,i feel intense compassion for   
the sick1 but ,i am very anxious that   
persons suffering with madness be shut  
in4    ,all men are ill1 said           

,hippocrates4 ,we all need care2 so ,i  
see nothing  wrong about criminals      
attracting special attention from the   
medical  corps4 ,there are so many      
interesting cases among them6           
,,the ,,insurrection ,,of ,,the         
,,vertebrates      ,it is well known how
 the spiritualists tried to capture     
,pasteur1  because his theories1 denying
 spontaneous generation1 seemed to them 
his consecration of the old dogma of a  
,creator4 ,pasteur never professed  such
 ideas2 he limited himself to pursuing  
brilliantly his profession  as a        
scientist4 ,it was not without a feeling
 of sadness that1 pestered  by the      
admiration of a too pious gentry1 he    
wrote to ,sainte-,beuve1  ,i believe3   
,let us continue our labors1 without    
giving heed to the  philosophic or      
religious deductions that may be drawn  
from them4    ,well1 here is that same  
gentry trying1 very maladroitly         
moreover1 to  turn to their profit the  
results of a new scientific theory which

 is  beginning to make a stir in the    
world1--the law of vital constancy4  ,m4
 ,dastre expounded it the other day at  
the solemn session of the  ,institute   
and demonstrated its supreme importance4
 ,if one is eager  to keep abreast of   
intellectual novelties1 one should      
possess some  notion of this recent     
scientific theory2 just as one would    
blush not  to possess any notion of     
,darwin's labors and the theory of      
evolution1  which has now become a part 
of general culture4    ,man is the      
product of an evolution the origin of   
which is  contemporaneous with the very 
origins of the world4 ,he has as        
ancestors  not only men1 but reckons in 
his genealogy all manner of animal      
species4 ,his descent from the monkey   
through the medium of a semi-human  form
 that is still little known1 is today   
authenticated4 ,the monkey1  like all   
other mammals and also the marsupials   
7kangaroo1 opossum7 is  a transformation
 of a reptile2 the reptiles1 to         

continue1 were born  of fishes1 who are 
the first vertebrates to appear1 and the
 fishes in  turn descend from the       
annelides1 humble little marine animals4
 ,but let  us not go any farther back   
than the fishes1 for1 in this species we
  possess a certainty that may be daily 
demonstrated4 ,at a certain stage  of   
its development the human embryo has the
 chief characteristics of a  fish4 ,all 
of us were1 at a certain moment of our  
unborn life1 fishes2  this is as certain
 as the most easily verified scientific 
fact4 ,from  this piece of evidence1 and
 a hundred others1 it has been possible 
to  draw up this aphorism1 which unites 
the evolution of the individual to      
general evolution3 ,every individual1 in
 his embryonic development1  goes       
through the same phases through which   
the evolution of his species  has gone  
in traversing the ages4    ,this        
monumental discovery of the             
transformation of species is1 as  we    
know1 due almost entirely to ,darwin4   

,it is he who propounded  and           
demonstrated the principle of evolution4
 ,but if1 in his so  abundant books1 he 
explained the how1 he did not discover  
the why4  ,he registered facts1 but did 
not show why these facts should have    
been absolutely necessary4 ,it is this  
gap which the theories of ,m4  ,quinton 
now fill1 at the same time confirming in
 a brilliant manner  the selfsame       
principles of ,darwinism1 evolutionism  
and transform-ism4  ,before ,m4         
,quinton1 one might1 strictly speaking1 
with a semblance  of good faith1 contest
 ,darwin's conclusions3 henceforth1 it  
is  impossible3 the facts are           
interconnected2 we know their necessary1
  implacable cause4 ,thanks to ,m4      
,quinton1 evolutionism should rather be 
termed revolutionism4    ,there are in  
this theory1 two things to consider3    
life itself1 and  the environment amid  
which it develops4 ,life is a fixed     
phenomenon4  ,it began in a marine      
milieu1 at the very beginnings of the   

world1 and  it tends constantly to      
preserve1 through all the               
transformations of a  terrestrial       
milieu1 the original conditions of its  
appearance4 ,as a  consequence1 the most
 highly developed animals1 the superior 
animals1  among which man takes first   
place1 are those which have been able to
  preserve in the interior of their     
bodies1 in the form of blood1 a  vital  
milieu almost identical with the        
original marine milieu1--the            
environment in which life was born3 in  
fact1 the degree of saltness in  our    
blood represents the saltness of the sea
 at the moment life made  its           
appearance1 and1 moreover1 our internal 
temperature represents the  mean        
temperature of the globe at the moment  
our species was born4    ,the           
terrestrial milieu is unstable4 ,its    
heat has constantly diminished4         
,formerly1 in the most remote epochs1   
the vicinity of the poles1 now an       
ice-covered and inaccessible extent1 had

 a climate hotter than that  of the     
tropics4 ,life was born amid this       
tropical environment1 at the  bottom of 
an ocean that had a far higher          
temperature than the ,caribbean  sea or 
the sea of ,java4 ,nevertheless the     
poles grew colder and all  the other    
parts of the world as well4 ,then animal
 life found itself  faced with this     
alternative3 either to accept the new   
conditions of the  milieu1 or to rebel  
against these conditions1--struggle and 
maintain  internally despite the        
external temperature1 the high          
temperature of  its origin4    ,that is 
a solemn moment in the drama of the     
world4 ,what is to happen8  ,if the new 
conditions are accepted1 it spells fatal
 decline4 ,if they  are repulsed1 it    
means a magnificent future development4 
,almost all  animal life submitted3 it  
is today represented by the lowest class
 of  living creatures3 the              
invertebrates4 ,a single representative 
of the  animal world revolted1 made a   

prodigious effort1 entered into strife  
with the hostile milieu and dominated   
it3 the vertebrate4 ,thus life1 in  its 
superior aspects1 affirmed itself from  
the very earliest times as  an          
insurrection4    ,m4 ,quinton1 says3    
,the vertebrate stands forth as marked  
by a  particular character1 which       
distinguishes him from the rest of the  
animal kingdom1 giving him a position   
apart1 above4 ,while the balance  of the
 animal kingdom accepts1 or rather      
undergoes1 in the face of the           
progressive shrinking of the seas and   
the cooling of the globe1 the  new      
conditions that have come about1 and to 
which it can yield only  at the cost of 
intense suffering1 the vertebrates give 
evidence of a  special power2 they      
refuse to accept the conditions and     
confronted by  hostile circumstances    
maintain the sole conditions favorable  
to their  existence4444 ,they are not1  
then1 like the invertebrates1 the       
passive  toys of circumstances that     

dominate them1 but1 in part1 the masters
 of  the fundamental conditions         
necessary to their welfare4 ,in the     
midst of  the physical world that       
surrounds him1 ignores him and oppresses
 him1  man is not the sole insurgent1   
the only animal in revolt against the   
natural conditions1 the only one tending
 to found1 in an instable1  hostile     
medium1 the fixed elements of a superior
 life4 ,the simple  fish1 the simple    
mammal 444 hold the essential physical  
laws in check4  ,when man attacks the   
natural forces that surround him1 in    
order to  dominate the hostile elements 
in them1 he first participates of the   
genius of the vertebrate4    ,i have    
purposely underscored the words sole    
insurgent4 ,these words1  in fact1      
indicate the orientation of our efforts 
the moment we attempt  to apply the     
biological principles enunciated by ,m4 
,quinton to the  social domain4 ,far    
from teaching stagnation1 resignation1  
acceptation1  he counsels on the        

contrary1 if one understands him1 revolt
 against  all that bars the progress of 
life and the maintenance of its highest 
conditions of power and intensity4      
,these ideas are related to the basic   
ideas of ,nietzsche's philosophy3 we    
must grow or succumb4 ,it is the  same  
with individuals and persons as with the
 animal species3 those who  accept the  
conditions provided by their traditional
 environment1 those  who do not react1  
are condemned to decadence3 they are    
invertebrates4  ,the traits of a        
superior organism1 on the contrary1 are 
reaction  through deep1 continued       
evolution1 or by a brusk revolution     
against the  mediocrity of the milieu   
which tends to dominate and reduce it4  
,in certain places it is freely asserted
 that the peoples of the future  are the
 wise peoples slumbering in the         
tradition of a political  order1 of a   
religious order1 or a moral order3 those
 peoples1 on the  contrary1 are in their
 decline4 ,but there is something worse3

 there are  political--or social groups 
that dream1 not of attaining to the     
genius  of the vertebrate1 which spells 
perpetual combat against the hostility  
of the environment1 but of becoming once
 again invertebrates1 and of  falling   
asleep gently in the lap of ancient     
traditions4    ,there is1 according to  
the theories of ,m4 ,quinton1 in the    
social realm  as in the biological1 a   
fixed point1 and one that must remain   
fixed  unless decline is to set in1 and 
that is life2 but we must not confuse   
life with the environment in which it   
evolves4 ,life is constant and the      
milieu is variable4 ,the most diverse   
political and social institutions  have 
been successively imagined by man to    
assure1 according to the  needs of the  
moment1 the development of his life4    
,and as1 in the course  of time1 they   
have appeared to him insufficient1 he   
has rejected them  to imagine others    
more in confirmity with his             
requirements3 and thus  social progress 

appears as a necessity1 in the same way 
that anatomical  progress has           
transformed an ocean worm into a fish   
and the fish into a  mammal or a bird4  
,in the two cases there is a certain end
 sought4 ,it is  for man to create for  
himself the social conditions that will 
permit  his life to maintain its        
loftiest aims4    ,when the social      
conditions that the old regime brought  
about in ,france  appeared to men       
unsuited any longer to the maintenance  
of their life1  they acted like good    
vertebrates1--they revolted4            
,civilization is  nothing but a         
succession of insurrections1 now against
 the hostility  of physical             
forces1--especially against the         
cold1--now against social  forces1      
which1 after a period of usefulness1    
tend almost always to  evolve in the    
direction of parasitism4          ,,the 
,,pessimism ,,of ,,leopardi             
,leopardi has never been widely read in 
,france4 ,while ,schopenhauer has       

achieved a certain literary popularity1 
,leopardi has remained1 even for        
scholars1 in the shade4 ,this is due in 
large measure to the mediocrity  of his 
translators and his commentators4444    
,leopardi's poetry is difficult to      
enjoy4 ,m4 ,turiello says that it is    
obscure even to ,italians of the present
 generation4 ,it is true that  ,leopardi
 is somewhat addicted to archaism and   
that1 moreover1 the  ,italian language  
has since his day undergone rapid       
development under  the influence of     
,french4 ,his prose1 despite its severe 
form1 now too  concise and now a trifle 
oratorical1 is more approachable4444    
,but if  translation1 is always a       
difficult task1 it is particularly      
difficult  to translate ,leopardi4      
,in prose as in verse he is a pessimist 
more by nature than as a result  of     
reasoning4 ,it is his sensibility rather
 than his intellect that  speaks4 ,he   
constructed no system2 he gathers his   
impressions1 his  observations1 and     

attempts1 not without arbitrariness1 to 
generalize  them4 ,his philosophy is    
entirely physiological3 the world is bad
  because his personal life is bad4 ,he 
conceives the world in most  terrifying 
fashion1 and supposes that if all men do
 not judge it as  he does1 it is because
 they are mad4 ,optimism1 in fact1 is   
fairly  widespread4 ,while there is life
 there is hope4 ,the fable of ,death    
and the ,wood-cutter is a fair symbol of
 humanity's out-look4 ,on the  other    
hand it is certain that literatures and 
philosophies1 even those  which aim to  
produce laughter as well as those which 
exalt life1 are  generally pessimistic4 
,there is a tragic background to        
,molire's plays  and a gloomy background
 to ,nietzsche's aphorisms4 ,absolute1  
beatific  optimism is compatible only   
with a sort of animal insensibility and 
stupidity3 only idiots are constantly   
laughing and are constantly  happy to be
 alive4 ,absolute pessimism1 however1   
can develop only in  certain depressed  

organisms3 its extreme manifestations   
are plainly  pathological and connected 
with maladies of the brain4             
,schopenhauer affirms that life is evil1
 yet he loves it and enjoys  it4 ,let   
fame come1 and he expands with cheer4   
,his character is by no  means gloomy4  
,he is at the same time a philosopher   
and a humorous  writer4 ,leopardi never 
knew these expansions4 ,he affects to   
despise  even glory1 for which he       
nevertheless labors4 ,but he1 too1 is a 
keen1  witty spirit1 although ever      
bitter2 and he1 too1 is a humorist4 ,he 
certainly takes pleasure in writing4 ,if
 he does not know life's other  joys1 he
 knows that of being able to impart a   
beautiful1 puissant form  to a lucid    
thought4 ,nevertheless his existence1   
much more logical  than ,schopenhauer's1
 is in exact accord with his philosophy4
 ,sickly1  isolated1 not understood1    
,leopardi lacked the strength to react2 
but if  he allowed himself to be swept  
along by his sadness1 it was at least in

  full knowledge of the fact4 ,he       
questions his despair and enters into   
discussion with it4 ,and this           
questioning presented us with those fine
  dialogues which1 together with a few  
thoughts1 were gathered together  under 
the title ,operette ,morali4            
,leopardi died in #ahcg4 ,his writings  
seem of this very day4 ,almost  all the 
questions touched upon with unparalleled
 sagacity in the  ,dialogue ,between    
,tristan ,and ,a ,friend are such as    
still interest  philosophers and        
critics4 ,i understand1 says ,tristan1  
and ,i embrace  the deep philosophy of  
the newspapers1 which1 by killing off   
all other  literature and all other     
studies of too serious and too little   
amusing  a nature1 are the masters and  
the beacon-light of the modern age4     
,already1 in his day1 the flatterers of 
the crowd were saying1 like the         
,socialists of today3 ,individuals have 
disappeared in the face of the  masses4 
,already sober stupidity affirmed3 ,we  

live in an epoch of  transition1 as if1 
resumes ,tristan1 all epochs and all    
centuries were  not a transition toward 
the future6    ,the theme itself of the 
dialogues is the idea of the wickedness 
of life  and the excellence of death4   
,it recurs time and again and ,leopardi 
manages to avoid monotony only by the   
ingeniousness of his imagination1  the  
beauty of his style1 the keenness of his
 wit4 ,for example1 the  magnificent    
passage in which1 after having said that
 although the  world is rejuvenated     
every spring it is continually growing  
older1  he announces the supreme death  
of the universe3 ,not a vestige will    
survive of the entire world1 of the     
vicissitudes and the infinite           
calamities of all things created4 ,an   
empty silence1 a supreme calm will  fill
 the immensity of space4 ,thus will     
dissolve solve and disappear  this      
frightful1 prodigious mystery of        
universal existence1 before we  have    
been able to understand or clarify it4  

,without a doubt4 ,but in the meantime  
we must live1 or else die4 ,and if  we  
choose to live1 it is reasonable to do  
our best to adapt ourselves  to life4   
,pessimism has but the slightest of     
philosophical value4 ,it  is not even a 
philosophy2 it is literature1 and1 too  
often1 rhetoric4  ,this man is a bit    
ridiculous1 tranquilly pursuing his     
existence1 daily  adding a page to his  
litany of death's delights4 ,in short1  
,leopardi1  like many another man1      
humble or exalted1 suffers from not     
being happy2  his originality consists  
less in taking pleasure in his          
suffering1  which is not very rare1 than
 in finding reasons for this pleasure   
and  expounding them logically and      
resolutely4 ,his sincerity is absolute4 
,considered in opposition to the base   
reveries of the promissors of           
happiness1 this literature is useful4   
,but it is good that it should  be rare1
 for if we finally got to take pleasure 
in it alone1 it would  prove only       

depressing4 ,life is nothing and it is  
everything4 ,it is  empty and it        
contains all4 ,but what does the word   
life mean8 ,it is an  abstraction4      
,there are as many lives as there are   
living individuals  in all the animal   
species4 ,these lives are developed     
according to  curves and windings of    
infinite variety4 ,it is the height of  
folly to  bring a single judgment to    
bear upon the multitude of individual   
lives4  ,some are good1 others bad1 the 
majority colorless1 according to every  
possible degree4 ,in this order of facts
 there is no justice1 and the  reign of 
justice is particularly chimerical in   
this case1 because the  joys and sorrows
 of a life are related far less to the  
events by which  it is crossed than to  
the physiological character of the      
individual4    ,abstractions do us much 
harm by impelling us to the quest of the
  absolute in all things4 ,joy does not 
exist1 but there are joys3 and  these   
joys may not be fully felt unless they  

are detached from  neutral or even      
painful conditions4 ,the idea of        
continuity is almost  self-negating4    
,nature makes no leaps2 but life makes  
only bounds4 ,it  is measured by our    
heart-beats and these may be counted4   
,that there  should be1 amid the number 
of deep pulsations that scan the line of
 our  existence1 some grievous ones1    
does not permit the affirmation that    
life is therefore evil4 ,moreover1      
neither a continuous grief nor a        
continuous joy would be perceived by    
consciousness4    ,whether we deal with 
the transcendental theories of          
,schopenhauer or the  melancholy        
assertions of ,leopardi1 we arrive at   
the same conclusion4  ,pessimism is not 
admissible1 any more than is optimism4  
,heraclitus  and ,democritus may be     
dismissed back to back1 while fearlessly
 and  with a moderate but resolute hope1
 we try to extract from each of our     
lives1--we men1--all the sap it         
contains1 even though it be bitter4     

,leopardi was not only the poet and the 
moralist of despair4 ,at the age  of    
seventeen he had already achieved note  
as a scholar and a ,hellenist1  with his
 ,essay ,upon ,popular ,errors ,of ,the 
,ancients 7#ahae74 ,during  the two     
years that followed he produced several 
dissertations on the                    
,batrachomyomachia1 on ,horace1 on      
,moscus1 and ,greek odes in the manner  
of ,callimachus1 the perfection of which
 was such that it was believed  some    
forgotten manuscript had been brought to
 light4 ,niebuhr affirmed  in #ahbb that
 the ,notes ,on ,the ,chronicle of      
,eusebus would have done  honor to the  
foremost ,german philologists4 ,leopardi
 had reached this  point when in a flash
 his personal genius was revealed to    
him1 and  then there appeared his       
,poems1 followed by his ,moral ,tracts4 
,he died  at the age of thirty-nine     
7#ahcg71 leaving a series of labors of  
which  each separate division achieves  
perfection3 the scholar1 the poet1 the  

writer of prose1 the translator1 the man
 of wit are equally admirable  in       
,leopardi4 ,were it not for the         
lingering illness that accompanied his  
deeply sensitive career1 he would have  
been one of the most luminous  geniuses 
of humanity4 ,his originality lies in   
his having been the most  sombre4       
,,ii      ,the three greatest pessimists
 who ever existed1 said ,schopenhauer   
one day1--that is to say1 ,leopardi1    
,byron and myself1--were in  ,italy     
during the same year1 #ahah-ahai1 and   
did not make one another's              
acquaintance6 ,one of these great       
pessimists1 ,leopardi1 happened  just at
 this time to be writing a little       
dialogue that might well be  reprinted  
at the beginning of every year4 ,it     
would always seem new4    ,life is bad1 
says ,leopardi1 and here is the proof3  
nobody has ever  found a man who would  
wish to live his life over again exactly
 as it  happened at first3--who would   
wish even1 at the beginning of a new    

year1 to have it exactly the same as the
 year just past4 ,what we love  in life 
is not life such as it is1 but rather   
life such as it might be1  such as we   
desire it to be4    ,but since this     
,dialogue ,between ,the ,passer-,by ,and
 ,the ,almanac-,vendor1  if it has ever 
been translated1 has remained buried in 
unreadable  volumes1 here is a version  
of this excellent1 though somewhat      
bitter1  page3    ,the                  
,almanac-,vendor4--,almanacs1 new       
almanacs6 ,new calendars6 ,will you  buy
 some almanacs1 sir8    ,the            
,passer-by4--,almanacs for the new year8
    ,vendor4--,yes1 sir4    ,passer-by4 
,do you think it will be a happy        
one1--this coming year8    ,v4--,oh1    
yes1 sir6 ,certainly6    ,p4--,as happy 
as the one just past8    ,v4--,oh6 ,far1
 far more so6    ,p4--,as happy as the  
one before that8    ,v4--,far1 far more4
    ,p4--,as happy as which other one1  
then8 ,wouldn't you be glad to have  the
 coming year the same as any one of the 

recent years8    ,v4--,no1 sir4 ,no4    
,that would hardly please me4           
,p4--,how long have you been selling    
almanacs8    ,v4--,for twenty years1    
sir4    ,p4--,which of those twenty     
years would you prefer the new year to  
resemble8    ,v4--,i8 ,i don't know4    
,p4--,can't you recall some year that   
seemed happy to you8    ,v4--,upon my   
word1 no1 sir4    ,p4--,yet life is a   
good thing1 isn't it8    ,v4--,oh1 yes  
indeed6    ,p4--,you would be willing to
 live these twenty years all over again1
  and even all the years since you were 
born8    ,f4--,i should say so1 my dear 
sir4 ,and would to ,god that were       
possible6    ,p4--,even if this life    
were to be exactly the same that you    
lived  before1--no more no less1--with  
the same pleasures and the same         
sorrows8    ,f4--,oh1 that6 ,indeed no6 
,p4--,then what sort of life would you  
wish8    ,f4--,just a life1 that's      
all1--such as ,god would grant me1      
without any  other conditions4          

,p4--,a life left to accident1 of which 
nothing would be known in  advance1--a  
life such as the coming year brings8    
,f4--,exactly4    ,p4--,that's what ,i1 
too1 would desire1 if ,i had my life to 
live over  again1--what ,i and everybody
 else would wish for4 ,but that means   
that  fate1 up to this very day1 has    
treated us badly4 ,and it is rather     
easy to see that the common opinion is1 
that in the past evil has  triumphed    
greatly over good1 since nobody1 if he  
had to go over the  same road again1    
would consent to be reborn4 ,that life  
which is good  is not the life we know1 
but the life we do not know1--the life  
ahead  of us4 ,beginning with the new   
year1 fate is going to deal kindly with 
us1--with you and me and everybody1--and
 we are going to be happy4    ,v4--,let 
us hope so4    ,p4--,well1 let me see   
your handsomest almanac4    ,v4--,here  
you are1 sir4 ,it costs thirty cents4   
,p4--,here's your money4                
,v4--,thanks1 sir4 ,see you again4      

,almanacs6 ,new almanacs6 ,new          
calendars6    ,there is1 perhaps1 a     
slight error in ,leopardi's reasoning4  
,it is not  because our life has been   
bad that it would be a burden to begin  
it  all over again4 ,even a happy life  
lived twice would scarcely possess  any 
greater pleasures4 ,the element of      
curiosity must be taken into  account4  
,there is no human being1 however       
resigned to the monotony of  a becalmed 
existence1 who does not in the bottom of
 his heart hope for  some unforeseen    
event4    ,but is it really true that   
this idea is not contained in           
,leopardi's  dialogue8 ,it is there1    
although hidden1 and doubtless ,i have  
taken it  from there4 ,wherever it may  
come from1 it is true1 at least if it be
  applied to life as a whole4 ,for      
everybody cherishes the remembrance  of 
hours1 and sometimes days1 which he     
would gladly live over again4  ,it is   
often one of the occupations of men to  
seek to create in their  lives          

circumstances that plunge them for a    
moment back into the joys of  the past1 
even if they must pay for this momentary
 resurrection with  subsequent pain4444 
,leopardi1 who was a distinguished      
philologist1 an excellent ,hellenist1  a
 great poet and an ingenious            
philosopher1 endowed with eloquence1    
was unable to discover happiness or even
 peace in the exercise of  these        
multiple gifts4 ,his health was of the  
most wretched2 his heart1  left empty1  
sounded in his bosom at the slightest   
shock2 he was timid  and his nerves     
quivered at every jar1 like those harps 
which were in  fashion during his youth4
 ,he was born four years before ,victor 
,hugo  and died young1 without having   
tasted fame1 while ,manzoni1 who was    
destined to fill an entire century1 had 
been for a long time known  throughout  
,europe4 ,is the source of ,leopardi's  
pessimism to be sought  among these     
divers causes8 ,that is hard to believe4
 ,the invalid1 far  from cursing life1  

is filled with hope2 he is an optimist1 
and wishes  to get well2 he knows that  
he will recover4 ,he is not the person  
with  whom to speak of the infinite     
vanity of all things4 ,it would rouse   
his  fury to listen to the condemnation 
of those boons that are momentarily  out
 of his reach but which he is preparing 
to seize and reconquer4  ,scarron was   
more sickly and more deformed than      
,leopardi1 yet he was  none the less a  
gay1 all too gay1 fellow4 ,as for not   
being understood1  or at least1 not     
being received at one's proper          
value1--there is  nothing in that to    
make a healthy mind pessimistic4 ,the   
superior man1  after all1 scorns the    
opinion of men so long as it remains    
only an  opinion1--that is to say1 a    
matter without practical consequences4  
,and  this was ,leopardi's situation1   
for he could have lived in independence 
upon his scant1 but honorable patrimony4
    ,pessimism is related to character1 
and character is an expression of       

physiology4 ,the case with writers1     
philosophers and poets is exactly  the  
same as with men of other professions4  
,they are gay1 sad1 witty1  morose1     
avaricious1 liberal1 ardent1 lazy1 and  
their talent assumes the  color of their
 character4    ,if one were to make a   
study of literature from this point of  
view1--a  procedure which would not lack
 interest1--one would very probably     
discover a great number of pessimists1  
or1 as they were called  formerly1 sad  
spirits4 ,there are few men of worth who
 have not at  times found a bitter taste
 to life1 even among those who1 like ,m4
  ,renan1 professed eternal joviality4  
,there is no great writer without  great
 sensibility2 he is capable of keen     
joys1 and of excessive pain  as well4   
,now pain1 which is depressive1 leaves  
deeper traces in life  than joy4 ,if    
intelligence does not rule1 if it does  
not intervene to  establish a hierarchy1
 or an equilibrium of sensations1 then  
the sad  ideas triumph because of their 

superior numbers and power4 ,renan's    
serenity is perhaps only the apathy of  
indifference2 ,goethe's serenity        
represents the victory of intellect over
 sensibility4    ,pessimism is neither a
 religious sentiment nor a modern one1  
although  it has often assumed religious
 form and although the most celebrated  
pessimists belong to the nineteenth     
century4 ,the ,greeks1 who knew         
everything1 knew the despair of living3 
the pessimism of ,heraclitus  had       
preceded the optimism of ,plato4 ,there 
are few pages more bitter  than those in
 which the naturalist ,pliny summarizes 
the miseries of  human life4 ,nature    
casts man upon the earth2 of all animals
 he is the  only one destined to tears2 
he cries from the moment of birth and   
never laughs before his fortieth day4   
,and after having enumerated all  the   
evils and the passions which desolate   
mankind1 ,pliny concludes by  approving 
the ancient ,greek epigram3 ,it is best 
not to be born or to  die as soon as    

possible4    ,leopardi has scarcely done
 more than paraphrase these elementary  
ideas1  but this he has done with       
abundance and ingeniousness4 ,so        
funereal is  his spirit that he throws a
 veil of mourning over the most charming
  things3 ,enter a garden of plants1    
herbs and flowers1 he says1 even  in the
 gentlest season of the year4 ,you      
cannot turn your glance in  any         
direction without discovering traces of 
misery4 ,all the members  of this       
vegetable family are more or less in a  
'state of suffering4'  ,there a rose is 
wounded by the sun that has given it    
life2 it shrivels1  blanches1 and       
withers away4 ,further on1 behold that  
lily1 whose most  sensitive1 most vital 
parts are being sucked by a bee4444     
,this tree is  infested by a swarm of   
ants2 others1 by caterpillars1 flies1   
snails1  mosquitoes2 one is wounded in  
its bark1 tortured by the sun1 which    
penetrates into the wound2 the other is 
attacked in the trunk or in its  roots4 

,you will not find in all this garden a 
single small plant whose  health is     
perfect4444 ,every garden is1 in a way1 
nothing but a vast  hospital1--a place  
even more lamentable than a             
cemetery1--and if such  beings are      
endowed with sensibility1 it is certain 
that non-existence  would to them be far
 preferable to existence4 ,leopardi here
 commits  the error of him who wishes to
 prove too much4 ,his pessimism         
abdicates  reason1 and the sentence     
about nothingness being preferable to   
life1  which in ,pliny was beautiful and
 philosophic1 acquires in the ,italian  
philosopher a somewhat ridiculous       
sentimentality4    ,jouffroy1 perhaps   
with this page in mind1 has put tender  
souls on guard  against any belief in   
the sensibility of plants3 let us leave 
that to  the reveries of                
,pythagoras1--so noble1 from other      
standpoints1--or to  the fairy tales1   
whither we may go of an evening in      
spring to pluck the  rose that speaks4  

,but if he had possessed a more intimate
 knowledge of  nature1 and of the       
relations between insects and plants1   
what a picture  at once admirable and   
cruel would not ,leopardi have been able
 to draw6  ,those mosquitoes1 upon whom 
he looks as allies of the caterpillars  
in  ravaging the leaves of some         
cherry-tree1 are ichneumons1 and it is  
the  caterpillars themselves that they  
have come to attack1 piercing them  with
 a long1 hollow borer which permits the 
mosquito to lay in the very  flesh of   
the caterpillar eggs which1 when they   
become larvae1 will gnaw  the living    
flesh like terrible little vultures4    
,if ,leopardi had known this and many   
another thing1--if he had known  that   
every living creature is in turn prey   
and depredator1 in turn  eater and      
eaten1 he would have considered with    
even greater bitterness  the arrival of 
the new year1 which hastens from the    
very first days  of its springtime1 to  
impart full strength and full passion to

 the  instincts of life and devastation4
    ,leopardi despairs3 he is1          
therefore1 a weakling4 ,his humble      
almanac-vendor is made of better clay4  
,he hopes2 he wishes to live and  live  
happily2 he possesses at least a little 
of that energy without  which other     
gifts prove only too often to be        
blemishes and burdens4          ,,the   
,,colors ,,of ,,life      ,it was       
formerly the custom in such provinces as
 ,normandy1 for example1  or ,britanny1 
to consecrate children to the color     
blue4 ,the vow  was limited to a certain
 number of years1--seven1 fourteen1 or  
twenty-one1--probably because of the    
virtues of the number seven1 as         
considerable as they are mysterious4    
,most often the final figure was        
decided upon1--the age of reason1 says  
the ,church1 which considers it  never  
too soon to place its hand upon the     
conscience and the will4  ,it was       
charming for the little girls1 though   
somewhat monotonous2 on  the contrary1  

it was troublesome to the little boys4  
,but it seems the  custom was           
efficacious in warding off the illnesses
 of childhood1 and  that it drew to the 
consecrated one the protection of the   
gods--,i  mean1 of the ,virgin--and of  
the celestial court4 ,the divine        
personages1  inhabiting the sky1 which  
is blue1 were in fact seen in blue by   
the  popular imagination1 and to adopt  
their color and assume their livery  was
 to put oneself in the shelter of their 
power and win their good  grace4        
,women1 through an analogous1 though    
much more complicated and varied        
symbolism1 often select a color and     
match all the elements of their         
toilette to it as far as fashion        
permits4 ,it is exceedingly difficult   
to ascertain the reason for their       
choice4 ,they themselves are at a loss  
for explanation4 ,often they believe    
that they have chosen the color or  the 
shade that best frames their complexion 
or that harmonizes best  with the color 

of their hair4 ,but often they go       
astray4 ,those who are  fond of bright  
blue would look far prettier in very    
pale green or in  deep red1 for example4
 ,they admit this1 but for form's sake  
only3 a  secret power holds them to the 
color that they have desired through    
instinct1--the color under which they   
will live1 under which they will  know  
love and all the joys and all the tears 
of life4    ,not only women1 but men    
have their color4 ,we seem to do the    
choosing1  but it is nature that imposes
 it upon us1--it is she that dedicates  
us  to the shade that shall be our      
favorite atmosphere4    ,one who will   
never feel merry amid red hangings will 
grow cheerful amid  green or yellow4    
,astrologers say that we are dominated  
by a planet  that controls our destiny4 
,this is not very easy to understand4   
,on the  contrary1 nobody would deny the
 rle played in our lives by colors4     
,would such and such a woman have evoked
 the passion which is today her         

happiness if her gown1 on that evening1 
had been rose and not mauve8  ,who can  
tell8 ,it requires so little to entrance
 the eye and so little  to provoke it4  
,a false note1 and the concert that was 
thrilling us  fills us with laughter4   
,if ,cleopatra's nose1 said ,pascal1 had
 been  shorter1 the face of the world   
would have been changed4 ,as for me1  ,i
 believe that ,cleopatra rather         
resembled ,dido1 who1 according to      
,scarron's mot1 was somewhat snub-nosed1
 in the ,african style4 ,perhaps  it was
 really the happy shade of her tunic1   
the harmonious hue of her  peplum that  
vanquished ,antony and brought him to   
the feet of the queen  of ,egypt4       
,history1 which so often gossips beside 
the point1 is mute  upon this capital   
question4 ,nevertheless1 were ,i to     
write the life of  ,cleopatra1 ,i should
 write it in green1--,nile green1 of    
course1--and  nobody1 ,i believe1 would 
have the effrontery to contradict me4   
,writing lives or stories in such and   

such a color is one of the things  ,i   
have recently tried to do1 and the      
attempt has in some instances  proved to
 be a rather delicate affair to manage4 
,there are blue women2  there are rose  
ones1 and mauve and red2 that is to say1
 they may be  scarcely represented      
except in association with one of these 
colors  or shades4 ,conceiving an old   
maid who had retained her good looks1   
who was very pious and yet of very      
equivocal habits1 ,i could see her  only
 in violet4 ,the story is violet from   
beginning to end2 it was  impossible for
 me to introduce a different hue2 ,i    
would have felt that  ,i was committing 
a gross offence against harmony4 ,the   
lady is vowed to  violet3 to place upon 
her head a blue or rose hat would have  
been a  sort of sacrilege which would   
have terrified even her4 ,can this be   
the  reason why her narrow life as an   
old maid found late in life so many     
happy1 if perverse1 days8 ,without a    
doubt1 for violet1 which is her  color1 

is also her logic1 and it is always well
 to have respected the  logic of one's  
destiny4    ,now1 in thus amusing       
myself1 ,i have not made any pretensions
 toward  reforming esthetics1 nor toward
 revolutionizing the conditions of the  
art of writing4 ,i have simply been     
playing with a box of pastels1  loving  
the colors for themselves1 one by one1  
somewhat in the manner of  the great and
 singular artist ,odilon ,redon1 whose  
flowers are so real  that one is moved  
to smell them4    ,we have our favorite 
colors4 ,tastes and colors4444 ,this    
aphorism is  not at all so frivolous as 
one might believe4 ,nietzsche1 who was  
by  no means a superficial spirit1 cites
 it willingly4 ,it is an argument  that 
favors individualistic philosophy and   
freedom of thought4 ,it is an  argument1
 too1 and not the least valuable1 that  
supports determinism  and the philosophy
 of necessity4 ,for the colors we love  
are not  dictated by choice but by a    
secret sympathy which it is impossible  

for  us to reason out4 ,the study of    
tastes and colors should form part of   
psychology4 ,perhaps there might even be
 discovered here the elements  of a new 
science4 ,being fond of red or of green 
is not a matter to be  dismissed with   
indifference4    ,a preference for red  
indicates rudeness1 and the fondness for
 green  reveals tenderness of character4
 ,it is known1 moreover1 that red is  an
 excitant1 while green induces repose1  
and meditation4 ,the studios  of the    
firm of ,lumire1 where photographic     
plates are prepared1 were  at first     
provided with red panes of glass2 but   
this led to such  effervescence1--the   
men and women1 after several hours of   
red gazed at  one another with such     
sparkling eyes1 that it was necessary to
 have  recourse to panes of a soothing  
color4 ,men that come from large cities1
  overexcited by the disharmony of      
sounds and colors1 can regain a bit of  
calm only amid the forests and the      
prairies or at the sea-shore1 which  is 

green when it is not blue4 ,blue is the 
most soothing of colors1 and  it is     
doubtless thanks to its blue sky that   
the ,south may endure the  brilliancy of
 its springs1 the purple of its autumns4
    ,color has its importance4 ,before  
making friends with anyone1 before      
undertaking the conquest of a woman1    
observe what their favorite  colors are4
 ,think at the same time of your own1   
and try to make happy  combinations4 ,if
 you are fond of red1 take to yourself a
 dash of blue1  thus forming an         
agreeable lilac2 and if it is blue that 
charms you1 do  not reject yellow2 this 
combination will give you all the shades
 of  green and will assure you lifelong 
peace4 ,how many misfortunes have  been 
caused by the maladroit mixing of       
hostile colors6 ,but above all1  beware 
of violet4 ,there is no more perfidious 
hue2 it is1 among the  colors of life1  
the least stable and the most           
hypocritical4          ,,the ,,art ,,of 
,,seeing                          ,mon  

voyage dpeint                ,vous sera 
d'un plaisir extrme4           ,je      
dirai3 ,j'tais l2 telle chose m'advint3 
,vous y croirez tre vous-mme4           
7,the tale of my travels will be        
extremely pleasant          to you1     
,i'll say3 ,i was there2 such and such  
things          happened to me4 ,you'll 
imagine that you're there               
yourself47      ,alas6 the loving dove  
would have replied1 if he had taken     
courses  under ,m4 ,claparde1 professor 
of psychology at the ,university of     
,geneva4 ,alas6 ,what faith may ,i have 
in your testimony8 ,you will tell  me   
what will take place in your head and   
,i'll not have the consolation1  as a   
reward for your absence1 of knowing your
 real adventures6 ,but  this was not    
what ,la ,fontaine had in mind4 ,in his 
day they believed in  the value of      
testimony offered in good faith4 ,an    
eye-witness inspired  full confidence4  
,people bowed with mute deference before
 the honest  man who said3 ,i was there2

 such and such things happened to me4   
,and the custom continues4              
,nevertheless1 in certain places1 they  
are  beginning to show a little less    
confidence4 ,they have been observing   
and reflecting and have arrived at the  
conclusion that the majority of  men    
report far less what they have seen than
 what they believed they  saw4 ,they    
repeat much less what they heard than   
what they believed they  heard4 ,a dozen
 persons having witnessed an accident   
will present a  dozen different         
accounts1 or1 at least1 accounts that do
 not harmonize  exactly4 ,still better1 
among the dozen there will be one1      
perhaps1 who  will have seen nothing1   
and another who will have seen the      
contrary to  what his companions saw4   
,i have made many observations in regard
 to this subject4 ,one of these         
observations is that1 if by accident ,i 
have had direct and exact  knowledge of 
an event reported by a newspaper1 the   
newspaper report  will very often be in 

contradiction to the facts personally   
known to  me4 ,another observation is1  
that every time ,i have read the        
description  of a place that is familiar
 to me1 the description1 in almost every
  case1 has seemed to me inexact1       
incomplete1--in short1 false4 ,huysmans 
was a meticulous observer2 more than any
 one else he possessed the  gift of     
seeing things well2 his sharp eye       
pierced and bored into men  and things4 
,more1 he had a passion for exactness1  
and he would scour  all ,paris to verify
 the color of a door or the height of a 
house4 ,he  would have considered it a  
sort of literary crime to describe      
anything  he had not seen with his own  
eyes4 ,well6 ,this man with the         
miraculous  eye said to me one day1     
speaking of the ,bivre1 a little stream 
which  at that time still flowed in the 
open1 between the fortifications and    
the ,botanical ,garden3 ,there is where 
you may see the last poplars of  ,paris4
 ,this old ,parisian1 who loved the     

banks of the ,seine1 had never  beheld  
its poplars1 some of which are truly    
wonderful1 as at the ,pont  ,royal1--the
 poplars which grow almost along its    
entire distance4 ,a  year ago1 a group  
of us1 all serious-minded gentlemen of  
,paris and of  the quartier1 were       
discussing the number of arches that    
comprise the  bridge of ,saints-,pres4  
,one may walk every day across a bridge 
without  knowing the number of its      
arches1 but one of us who confessed that
 he  had looked at this bridge from the 
barge or from the quay perhaps a        
thousand times in his life1 was unable  
to settle the matter for us4 ,i  knew a 
librarian who was exceedingly fond of   
the ,memoirs of ,casanova  and who      
mangled his name1 calling him always1   
and emphatically1  ,casanova de         
,seignalt instead of ,seingalt1 which is
 the right form4 ,i  have been          
conducting regularly1 in the same       
review1 for some twelve  years1 a       
chronicle under the title ,epilogues2   

one of my friends1 a  fellow            
staff-member of the same review1 has    
said or written to me at  least ten     
times3 ,i have read your latest         
,episodes4444    ,this reminds me of the
 ,english historian ,froude1 with whom  
,dr4 ,gustave  ,le ,bon recently        
entertained us1 dealing with this very  
question of  testimony4 ,froude         
possessed a genius for seeing things    
exactly opposite  to what they really   
were4 ,a curious example of this is     
given2 it  concerns the description he  
gives of the town of ,adelaide1         
,australia4  ,i saw at our feet1 he     
said1 in the plain cut by a stream1 a   
city of  one hundred and fifty thousand 
inhabitants1 of which not one has ever  
known or ever will know1 the least      
uncertainty upon the matter of the      
regular return of his three meals per   
day4 ,now1 ,adelaide is built upon  a   
height1 and1 at the time ,froude visited
 it1 its population1 half as  numerous  
as he said it was1 was a prey to a      

terrible famine4 ,and this  is the      
testimony of a grave personage1 with a  
,european reputation1--one  of the      
,english historians most esteemed by    
those who have not read him4    ,if     
,froude had lived several centuries     
earlier1 adds ,m4 ,le ,bon1 all  his    
affirmations would have been held as    
precious documents1 since  they came    
from an eye-witness whose good faith    
there was no reason for  suspecting4    
,how many very serious histories are    
written with details as  little         
trustworthy as this6    ,jules ,simon   
was astounded that so many honest       
persons contradict each  other when     
giving accounts of events that they have
 witnessed4 ,at every  step ,i encounter
 this frightful spectacle4 ,man is least
 sure of his  own spirit4 ,he is not    
sure of his eyes3 the fact is that his  
eyes and  his memory are in strife with 
his imagination4 ,he believes that he is
  seeing2 he believes that he is        
remembering1 and he is really inventing4

    ,this is what explains those ancient
 and modern1 and even contemporary      
tales of miracles1 apparitions and      
wonderful happenings that are often     
attested by a large number of witnesses4
 ,the number of witnesses  signifies    
nothing1 nor does their honesty or their
 good faith4 ,on the  contrary1 good    
faith1 in the matter of testimony1 is an
 element to  be on guard against4 ,it is
 far better to deal with bad faith1     
which  betrays itself always by some    
blunder4 ,saint ,paul attests that      
,christ  resurrected was beheld by more 
than five hundred persons2 well1 it is  
a matter of doubt now as to whether     
there ever existed a person named       
,jesus and surnamed the ,christ4        
,thousands upon thousands of persons in 
the ,middle ,ages1 and even later1 saw  
the ,devil1 and1 adds ,m4 ,le ,bon1 if  
unanimous testimony may be considered as
 proving anything1 one might  say that  
the ,devil is the personage whose       
existence has been best  demonstrated4  

,gregory of ,tours1 an historian of     
evident good faith1 was  present during 
his life at hundreds of miracles1 which 
he describes  most complaisantly4 ,he   
saw them1 controlled them3 yet the      
majority of  them are pure              
extravagances1 inadmissible in our day  
even by the most  obtuse of pietists4   
,contemporary history and ,judicial     
reports prove  to us constantly the     
worthlessness of evidence4 ,at the time 
of the  ,liban catastrophe1 when the    
vessel went down in broad daylight as   
the  result of a collision1 it was      
impossible to learn from the surviving  
members of the crew whether the captain 
was or was not on the bridge at  the    
time of the accident4 ,some had seen him
 there1 while others swore  that he was 
not on the bridge4 ,in a certain        
criminal trial it becomes  necessary to 
identify a person who has been but      
glimpsed2 they succeed  in identifying  
him1 but only by influencing the        
witnesses1 placing  them on the possible

 track or upon that which justice       
desires them to  follow4 ,according to  
,m4 ,claparde's experiments1 a person of
 whom only  a glimpse has been got1 if  
the witnesses are not influenced1 is    
hardly  recognized by one person in     
four1 and at that hesitantly4    ,really
 good observers are very rare4 ,napoleon
 pretended to recall every  face he had 
looked upon once4 ,this has become      
legendary1 but it is not  quite so4 ,he 
confused all the names4 ,one day1 he    
sees a certain face in  a deputation and
 thinks that he recognizes it4 ,it was a
 scholar who was  well known in that    
day1 named ,ameilhon4 ,the following    
dialogue takes  place3 ,aren't you      
,ancillon8--,yes1 sire1                 
,ameilhon4--,librarian of               
,sainte-,genevive8--,yes1 sire1 of the  
,arsenal4--,continuator of the  ,history
 of the ,ottoman ,empire--,yes1 sire1 of
 the ,history of the ,low  ,empire4     
,after which ,ameilhon1 enchanted with  
the honor1 went off1  declaring         

everywhere most emphatically3 ,the      
emperor is amazing4 ,he  knows          
everything4 ,and we1 in our turn1 might 
say3 men are amazing2  they imagine that
 it is enough to have witnessed an event
 to be sure of  that event6 ,the matter 
is far more complicated4 ,certainty is  
difficult  to acquire4    ,nothing is   
more difficult than that which is too   
easy4 ,nobody would  imagine that he    
could play the violin without having    
learned how2 and  if he did1 the least  
attempt would at once extinguish his    
pretense4 ,but  to see8 ,what more      
simple than that8 ,all one has to do is 
open one's  eyes4 ,i saw it1 is the     
reply of a witness whose story is       
contested2  ,do you take me for a fellow
 suffering from hallucination8          
,precisely1  or else for a purblind     
person1 as the case may be4 ,as a matter
 of fact1  when it comes to seeing1 men 
display two tendencies3 they see what   
they  wish to see1 what is useful to    
them1 what is agreeable4 ,the second is 

the tendency toward inhibition2 they do 
not see what they do not wish  to see1  
what is useless to them1 or             
disagreeable4    ,the great rule by     
which almost everything may be          
explained1 is the rule  of utility4     
,certain artisans were visiting the     
,universal ,exposition4  ,they looked   
about1 walked along1 and had seen       
nothing4 ,farther on they  continued to 
look about1 and this time they stopped2 
they had caught  sight of a machine that
 could be of use to them in their       
particular  work4 ,we do not see that to
 which we are indifferent4 ,the image   
glides  by1 fades and dies out before   
having had time to become fixed1 and we 
make no effort to retain it4    ,i knew 
a colonial functionary who had travelled
 around the globe1 and  who spent years 
in our various colonies in ,africa1     
,asia and ,america4  ,once in a while ,i
 am tempted to question him4 ,but he is 
at a loss for  reply4 ,occupied only    
with his advancement and with his family

 affairs1  he really saw nothing4 ,of   
,singapore1 the strange city whence a   
young  writer1 ,m4 ,cassel1 has brought 
us such dazzling1 magic impressions1    
this fine fellow said to me3 ,pretty    
place2 a few houses in the  ,european   
style4 ,i have asked many a question in 
my life1 but never  have ,i received so 
stupid an answer4 ,but ,i understand    
that questions  are always indiscreet4  
,to ask anybody what he has seen is to  
subject  him to torture4 ,he sinks a    
fishing-line into his memory and brings 
up  nothing4 ,then he tries to invent1  
and the result is wretched4 ,hence1  for
 tourists1 the great usefulness of the  
guide-books4 ,without these  books they 
would have seen nothing1 and without    
them they would recall  nothing4 ,what  
did ,i see at ,rome8 ,they open to the  
marked page4 ,rome1  ,rome8 said a      
hosier whom his wife had dragged off to 
,italy4 ,ah6 ,i  remember6 ,that's the  
place where ,i purchased this miserable 
flannel  waistcoat4    ,in company of   

those who see nothing or almost nothing 
are those who  see crooked or inversely 
altogether1--those who allow themselves 
to be guided far less by their eyes than
 by their sensibility1 who  believe that
 a thing exists because it seems to them
 that they have  received such an       
impression4 ,whoever has a department   
under him1 said  a telegraph inspector1 
has been able to prove how inexact the  
reports  he receives often are1 and how 
necessary it is to verify the assertions
  of agents as to events in which they  
have been actors or spectators4  ,the   
account of an event that has just taken 
place is founded upon the  impressions  
received rather than upon direct        
observation4 ,at the end  of several    
days the imagination has come into play 
and it adds the  finishing touch to the 
crystallization of one's conviction4 ,at
 this  moment1 if there was an initial  
error1 it has become ineradicable4      
,this explains all those disputes       
between the public and administrative   

agents4 ,each one is actuated by good   
faith1 but each has beheld the  event in
 a different light1--that of his own    
particular interest1--the  one intent   
upon upholding respect for law or rule1 
the other eager only  to violate it or  
circumvent it4 ,if the case is taken to 
court1 the  judge1 whose authoritarian  
tendency is very marked1 almost always  
finds  the agent of the law in the      
right4 ,it is nevertheless quite certain
  that the agent is not to be believed  
more than once out of two times on  the 
average4 ,even this proportion is       
perhaps highly exaggerated4    ,it so   
happens that according to special plans 
there is1 at the  ,university of        
,geneva1 a large window opening upon an 
interior corridor1  which is to the left
 as the students enter opposite the     
janitor's  lodge4 ,one day1 ,m4         
,claparde questioned fifty-four students
 as to  the existence of this window1   
which they passed by every day4 ,do you 
know how many asserted categorically    

that the window did not exist8          
,forty-four6 ,astounded1 ,m4 ,claparde  
declares that such a collective         
testimony is disconcerting and          
discouraging4 ,and who would not agree  
with him8 ,who does not think with      
horror1 after this experiment1 of  all  
those criminal trials where a verdict is
 rendered on the strength  of witnesses8
 testimony8 ,m4 ,claparde comes to the  
conclusion that  a single witness may be
 right despite many opposing witnesses  
whose  stories agree4 ,unanimity itself 
should be severely controlled1 and  he  
adds1 quite in accord with my own       
notions upon the matter3 ,one  is led to
 ask whether it is not the rule to      
disregard those objects  about us which 
are without interest to us1 and if it is
 not only by  accident1 and             
exceptionally1 that such objects leave  
an imprint upon  the sensitive plate of 
our memory8 ,accident1 of a surety1 or  
else a  particularly sensitive plate4   
,if indeed our eye functions            

mechanically  somewhat in the manner of 
a photograph lens1 we are compelled1 in 
order  not to clutter the storehouse of 
our memory1 to make a choice of the     
images which we classify therein4 ,in   
this an instinct guides us1 though  not 
always infallibly1 and calls to our     
attention those images useful  to the   
conservation or the defense of our life4
    ,without education1 without         
civilized habits1 which constantly      
increase  the number of our requirements
 of every kind1 we should1 like animals1
  have need to retain but a small number
 of images4    ,the life of animals     
moves in a rather restricted circle1 and
 there is  not one of their acts that is
 not dictated by utility4 ,men1 too1    
obey  the rule of utility1 but their    
imagination magnifies this field of the 
useful in a singular manner1 and they   
find themselves obliged1 for  the       
purpose of mere existence1 to open their
 memory to a considerable  number of    
images to which animals are absolutely  

indifferent4 ,we behold  on a table1 in 
a single glance1 the plates1 the food1  
the flowers1 the  glasses and all the   
rest2 the dog sees only the food2 the   
flowers that  give us pleasure1 the     
general arrangement that charms us1     
leave him  utterly insensible to their  
attraction4 ,there are also things to   
the  sight of which we are ourselves    
insensible3 those which are neither     
beautiful nor ugly1 nor useful1 nor     
harmful1 neither good nor bad1--        
everything that is not worth the trouble
 of being qualified1 everything  that is
 neutral to our senses as to our        
imagination4 ,if1 then1 we are  asked to
 give testimony regarding the existence 
of these objects1  regarding the reality
 of those things that cause us neither  
pain nor  pleasure1 and which1          
therefore1 we have neglected to retain  
in our  memory1 we should be greatly    
embarrassed4    ,in general1 when we are
 questioned we have a tendency to affirm
 that  which we believe probable and to 

deny the case that seems to us          
improbable4 ,thus1 in the case of the   
window1 this window1 opening upon  an   
interior corridor1 seemed to the        
students who were questioned quite      
improbable1 since the thing was useless1
 even absurd4    ,in the second place1  
and this is very important1 we hold in  
our minds  a series of types of fact to 
which invariably we relate the new      
events  that we happen to witness4 ,if1 
for example1 we are in principle assured
  that every automobile accident is due 
to the drivers of these vehicles1  it is
 with difficulty that we admit1 even if 
we have seen it with our  own eyes1 that
 the accident was the fault of the      
victim4 ,the case  will be just the     
contrary with the chauffeur3 to him1 the
 victim is  always in the wrong4 ,but   
if1 for us1 the chauffeur is always     
wrong1  our attitude is equally         
unreasonable4 ,in either case1 the      
images  will be distorted and if we are 
questioned1 we will reply with lies     

uttered in all good faith3 ,this is so  
because it ought to be so4 ,m4          
,claparde even goes so far as to admit  
that the evidence of various            
individuals may be erroneous1 even if   
they all agree4 ,i am of his  opinion1  
because it is quite normal that the same
 interest or the same  absence of       
interest unconsciously guides witnesses 
of diverse origin  and condition4 ,all  
the ancient explorers of the ,kerguelen 
,isles saw  there only sterile and      
uninhabitable lands4 ,yet in recent days
 a colony  composed of men from ,havre  
and ,norwegians has established itself  
there  and finds the country rough1 but 
healthful and well suited not only to   
fishing but also to pasturage4    ,it   
appears1 from all this1 that our eyes   
are uncertain4 ,two persons  look at the
 same clock and there is a difference of
 two or three  minutes in their reading 
of the time4 ,one has a tendency to put 
back  the hands1 the other to advance   
them4 ,let us not too confidently try   

to play the part of the third person who
 wishes to set the first two  aright2 it
 may well happen that we are mistaken in
 turn4 ,besides1  in our daily life1 we 
have less need of certainty than of a   
certain  approximation to certainty4    
,let us learn how to see1 but without   
looking too closely at things and men3  
they look better from a  distance4      
,,the ,,rivers ,,of ,,france      ,a    
river is a beautiful thing4 ,it runs    
along1 its sings1 it laughs1 it  glints 
in the sunlight and becomes darker      
beneath the trees4 ,sometimes  one may  
see the bottom1 where there are stones  
and grasses1 while at  times it is a    
sombre abyss that fills one with        
shudders4 ,the river  comes from afar   
and goes no one knows whither4 ,true1   
people say that  it has a beginning and 
that its source lies yonder1 in the     
mountains1  but that is not at all so   
certain4 ,what is a source8 ,when you   
see a  river1 it is already a river and 
it never occurs to you that it may  ever

 have been only a tiny ribbon of water  
trickling down from a rock4  ,in olden  
days1 when the world was happy1 things  
were far different4  ,rivers flowed from
 a marble pitcher which was held in the 
hands of  an eternally youthful1        
drooping maiden4 ,but the wicked god of 
the  ,christians1 who is not fond of    
maidens8 beauty1 broke those marble     
pitchers2 the mothers of rivers died of 
grief and now the rivers are  born by   
accident1 as best they may be4 ,if we   
are not so well informed  about their   
birth1 we know their life and their     
death4 ,their life is  to bound along or
 to flow nonchalantly on1 to prattle    
over the pebbles  and dream amid the    
rushes4 ,often1 when traversing the     
blooming meadows  they love to spread   
across the grass4 ,if dikes or          
tree-trunks bar the  way they are       
provoked and even wax furious4 ,but if  
it is a mill that  rises before them1   
they turn its wheels with docile        
promptness1 and  continue on their way  

unperturbed4 ,the river is the mother of
 men and  trees1 of beasts and plants4  
,without the river there are no fish2   
there  are no birds4 ,there are no      
crops1 no flowers1 no wine1 no cattle1  
and  man flees1 parched by the sun4     
,after having given life1 the river has 
two ways of dying2 either it expands    
into the bosom of a larger river  or    
flows directly to mingle with the sea2  
the sea is the vast cemetery  of all the
 rivers1--of the smallest as well as the
 greatest4 ,but the  river that dies is 
nevertheless just as eternal as the     
ocean that  receives it into its depths4
 ,the clouds are born of the sea1 and   
the  wind wafts them toward the forests1
 where they make rain and swell the     
streams4 ,there is in the world a       
circulation of water as in our bodies   
there is a circulation of blood4 ,all   
this is well regulated4 ,the sea  loves 
the river4 ,it comes to meet the stream 
and sends it as greeting  the salt tang 
of its waves4 ,the river fears this     

infinitude4 ,for a long  time it        
resists4 ,at last1 the sweet waters     
yield and melt under the  powerful      
kisses of the brine3 the swell of the   
waves lulls the wedded  waters to rest4 
,the river is a person4 ,it has a name4 
,this name is very ancient1  because the
 river1 although perpetually young1 is  
very old4 ,it existed  before men and   
before birds4 ,ever since men were born 
they loved the  rivers1 and as soon as  
they learned how to speak they gave them
 names4  ,even when we no longer        
understand them1 the names of the rivers
 are  the most beautiful in the world4  
,there is the ,gironde and the ,adour2  
the ,loire and the ,vienne1 the ,rhne   
and the ,arige4 ,but perhaps it is      
possible to understand these names4 ,let
 us try1 by having recourse  to the     
studies of a geographical scholar1 ,m4  
,raoul de ,flice4 ,our  rivers have     
received their names from the various   
races that anciently  occupied ,gaul3   
,the ,iberians1 an unknown people1 the  

,ligurians1 the  ,celts4 ,at the moment 
of the ,roman conquest1 almost all the  
streams of  ,france possess a name4 ,so 
that modern names are very rare4 ,the   
,iberians  were probably ,basques1 if   
not in race at least in language4 ,even 
if  this is contested1 that would not   
prevent us from tracing the word  ,adour
 back to the ,basque word iturria1 which
 means spring1 source4  ,it is to the   
,iberians that we likewise owe names    
such as the ,aude1  the ,orbieu1 the    
,urugne4 ,here probably came a people   
yet unknown1 but  of ,indo-,european    
language1 which was perhaps the         
godfather to many of  our rivers4 ,to   
this people it may be we owe the names  
,somme1 ,svre1  ,herault1--names that   
are derived from various roots          
signifying water1  liquid1 source4      
,according to the same theory1 ,durance1
 ,drne1 ,drot1  ,drac might be          
translated by the running water1 and the
 same idea  would be found in the name  
,rhne1 while the ,loire would be the    

stream  that waters2 the ,meurthe1 she  
who moistens4 ,as to the ,garonne1 that 
would be1 the rapid one2 but the matter 
is still under discussion3  the ,garonne
 has not given up its secret1 any more  
than the ,gironde4 ,we  may note1 in    
passing1 that there are in ,france three
 other ,garonnes1  without taking into  
account a ,garon1 a ,garonnette1 and a  
,garonnelle2  there are seven or eight  
,girondes1 of which two are in the      
environs  of ,paris1 tributaries of the 
,orge and the ,marne4 ,the ,oise and the
  ,isdre stand for the same thing1      
namely1 the rapid one1 which seems      
rather hazardous to me in the case of   
the ,oise4 ,certain rivers flow  in a   
deep-cut bed2 thus they have received a 
name which would signify  something like
 case1 vase or sheath3 these are the    
,couse1 the ,cousin1  the ,cusom1 the   
,cousanne1 the ,couzeau1 and the names  
,couzon4    ,we now come to the part    
played by the ,ligurians4 ,in their     
language  they called the alder-tree    

that grows along the banks of so many   
rivers1 alisos1 alsia or alison4 ,they  
gave this name to a number of  streams2 
,alzon1 ,alzou1 ,alzau1 ,auzon1         
,auzonne1 ,auzonnet1 ,arzon1 ,auze1     
,auzenne1 ,auzelle1 ,auzotte1 ,auzette1 
,auzigue1 ,auzolle1 ,auzone1--all of    
which would signify the rivers of the   
alder-trees4 ,there would also  be left 
to be explained the origin of names     
ending in enque1 such  as ,allarenque1  
,laurenque1 ,durenque1 ,virenque1 but it
 is not known  what they mean4 ,finally1
 one could not deny to the ,ligurians   
the name  ,ligoure1 which seems to be   
the name of the people itself4 ,the     
,aude and  the ,orb probably owe their  
designation to the ,phoenician settlers2
  the second of these is perhaps ,greek4
 ,with the ,celtic period the           
etymologies become a trifle less        
uncertain4 ,the ,celtic word for water1 
dour1 is clearly found in the ,dourbie1 
the ,dourdene and the ,dourdze1  the    
,dourdon1 the ,dore and the ,doire4     

,another ,celtic name for water1  esca  
is seen in the ,ouche1 the ,essonne4    
,they called a river avar2  hence1 the  
,abron1 the ,jabron1 the ,aveyron1 the  
,arveiron1 the ,auron2  hence probably  
also the ,eure1 the ,auterne1 the       
,authre1 the ,automne1  the ,autruche4  
,aven means river in the present ,breton
 dialect2 now1  we find rivers called3  
,avne1 ,avon1 ,avgne1 ,avignon4 ,from   
glanos1  meaning brilliant1 gleaming1   
are perhaps derived the ,gland1 the     
,glane2  from vernos1 alder-tree1 they  
have like the ,ligurians christened     
many rivers3 the ,vern1 the ,vernaison1 
the ,vernazon2 from der1 oak1  came the 
,dre4 ,it should be added that all these
 words came down to  us through the     
,latin form before acquiring their      
,french form4 ,thus  ,bivre and its     
derivatives ,beuvron1 ,brevenne1        
,brevonne1 derive  from the ,latin      
bibrum1 itself borrowed from a ,celtic  
word meaning  beaver4 ,is it to the     
,gauls or the ,romans that we owe the   

names ,dive1  ,divette1 ,divonne8 ,does 
this mean here the fairy1 or the divine 
one8 ,it  is difficult to ascertain4    
,there were great resemblances between  
the  tongues4    ,french and its        
dialects have naturally named a large   
number of rivers1  either by            
rechristening them or modifying the old 
names to give them  a ,french meaning4  
,in this class we have the names        
suggested by the  appearance or the     
qualities of the river3#a the ,blanche1 
the ,claire1  the ,brune1 the ,noire1   
the ,brillant1 the ,hideuse1 the        
,vilaine1 the  ,furieuse1 the ,rongeant1
 the ,sonnant1 the ,creuse1 the ,sense4 
,at other  times the names come from    
plants1#b such as ,fusain1 ,orge1       
,viorne1  ,liane1 ,gland1 ,orne1        
,oignon1 ,trfle1 ,rouvre1 ,lys1 ,aunes1 
,bruyre1  ,trone2 names of animals3#c   
,oie1 ,loir1 ,louvette1 ,chvre1 ,heron1 
,ourse1 ,lionne1 ,autruche2 names of    
every kind3#d ,mre1 ,cousin1 ,sueur1    
,coquille1 ,oeil1 ,oeuf1 ,rognon1       

,brche1 ,vie1 ,automne1 ,blaise1        
,armance1  ,abme4 ,some proudly bear    
absolute names3 le ,fleuve 7the         
,stream71 la  ,rivire 7the ,river72 it  
so happens that they are only rivulets1 
the  one in la ,manche1 the other in the
 ,alps4 ,and finally1 a little river    
that is probably very wise is called la 
,mme 7the ,same74 ,the majority  of     
these later names ,i have taken directly
 from the map1 but a good  part of my   
learning ,i have borrowed from ,m4 de   
,flice1 who has given  us a great deal1 
free from all pedantry1 in his book upon
 les ,noms de  nos ,rivires 7,the ,names
 of our ,rivers47 ,is it not pleasant to
 know  that the ,seine means the gushing
 one8 ,those who wish to learn more  may
 consult the source ,i have indicated4  
,it is with pain that ,i wrest  myself  
away from the charms of the rivers of   
,france1 for    ,la rivire est la mre de
 toute la nature4    ,the river is the  
mother of all nature4      ,footnote #a3
 ,these signify1 in the order of        

occurrence3 white1 dear1  dark1 black1  
gleaming1 hideous1 ugly1 furious1       
gnawing1 tinkling1  hollow1 sensible4   
,footnote #b3 ,prickwood1 barley1       
liburnum1 liana1 acorn1 flowering-ash1  
onion1 clover1 common oak1 lily1        
alder-trees1 heather1 privet4           
,footnote #c3 ,goose1 dormouse1         
she-wolf1 goat1 heron1 bear1 lioness1   
ostrich4    ,footnote #d3 ,mother1      
cousin1 sweat1 shell1 eye1 egg1 kidney1 
breach1  life1 autumn1 ,blase1 ,armance1
 abyss4          ,,the ,,fall ,,of      
,,days      ,there is a fall of days as 
there is a ,i fall of leaves4 ,i do not 
know  what wind1 blowing from the       
infinite1 shakes the years1 and sends   
falling from them one by one the sere   
and yellow days4 ,whither do they  go8  
,whither go the sere and yellow leaves8 
,to the great laboratory1  no doubt1    
where ,nature fashions her annual       
resurrections4 ,they will  return to us 
from this laboratory as green as ever1  
and everlastingly  the same in their    

unchangeable designs1 those of the      
poplar1 which are  hearts1 the chestnut1
 which are hands1 the aspen1 which are  
tridents1  and the willow leaves1 which 
are lances4 ,but what becomes of days   
when  they have fallen1 sere and yellow8
 ,to what remote1 unknown1 chimerical   
worlds are they carried off forever8    
,for they are never seen again4  ,new   
days come1--the foliage of the          
years1--unheralded days1 unexpected     
days1 surprising days1 days that one    
loves and days that one fears2 but  the 
olden days1 those which were familiar to
 us1 those that we desire1  that we wait
 for1 will never return4 ,the foliage of
 the year will be so  well renovated    
that we shall no longer be able to      
recognize it at all4    ,yes1 they are  
days4 ,they have a beginning and an end1
 they have light  and shadow1 they are  
born of night and into night withdraw to
 die4  ,they are days1 without a doubt1 
but not the same4 ,their smiles are     
different1 and also their frowns4 ,the  

joys they bring us are not  distributed 
with less niggardliness1 but they have  
neither the same  perfume nor the same  
color4 ,hope not to find again the smile
 that  enchanted you4 ,it is dead4 ,it  
will not return to the face you love any
  more than the day of your birth will  
return4 ,but may you at least hope  to  
see once more the face you love1 as it  
was4 ,alas6 ,you will perhaps  have the 
illusion of seeing it thus1 but it will 
not be reality1 for  the days1 as they  
vanish into the night1 carry off with   
them somewhat  of the countenances of   
men as a remembrance4 ,it may well be   
that with  these tiny bits they fashion 
brand new faces1 yonder in the          
chimerical  world1 but that is not at   
all sure4    ,no1 never the same1 never4
 ,slowly or rapidly1 an indefatigable   
motion  whirls everything about in a    
farandola whose ends never can meet4    
,the  year passes by3 one day more6 ,the
 day passes by3 an hour longer6 ,the    
hour passes by3 only another minute6 ,in

 vain4 ,but all this will at  least come
 back8 ,i have already told you1 ,no4   
,why insist8 ,bow to fate4    ,one never
 crosses the same river twice1 said the 
,greek philosopher1  and if this be to  
some a source of bitterness1 others will
 find in  it good reason to take heart4 
,the latter are those whose memories are
  filled chiefly with evil days4 ,let   
them1 then1 be content4 ,neither will   
they ever behold the same days4 ,tears  
flow and smiles fade to the same  rhythm
 of life1 to disappear together in the  
bottomless abyss4    ,nothing returns1  
nothing begins anew2 it is never the    
same thing1 and  yet it seems always the
 same4 ,for1 if the days never return1  
every  moment brings forth new beings   
whose destiny it will be to create for  
themselves1 in the course of their      
lives1 the same illusions that have     
companioned and at times illuminated    
ours4 ,the fabric is eternal2  eternal1 
the embroidery4 ,a universe dies when we
 die2 another is born  when a new       

creature comes to earth with a new      
sensibility4 ,if1 then1  it is very true
 that nothing begins all over again1 it 
is very just to  say1 too1 that         
everything continues4 ,one may          
fearlessly advance the  latter statement
 or the former1 according to whether one
 considers the  individual or the       
blending of generations4 ,from this     
second point of  view1 everything is    
coexistent2 the same cause produces     
contradictory1  yet logical effects4    
,all the colors and their shades are    
printed at a  single impression1 to form
 the wonderful image we call life4      
,and there is neither beginning nor end1
 nor past nor future2 there is  only a  
present1 at the same time static and    
ephemeral1 multiple and  absolute4      
,it is the vital ocean in which we all  
share1 according to our strength1  our  
needs or our desires4 ,then what matters
 that which we call the fall  of the    
days or the fall of the leaves8         
,neither the leaves nor the days fall at

 the same time for all men1 and  the    
hour that marks the end of a year is    
likewise that which marks the  birth of 
another4    ,it is thus ,i dream1 during
 these closing days of ,december1 of    
life  which is nothing1 since it dies   
incessantly1 and which is all1 since  it
 is ceaselessly reborn4 ,it is the drop 
of water that flows off as  soon as it  
falls1 but which is followed by another 
drop that presses  upon it in its       
course4 ,we are that1 nothing but       
that1--drops of water  that are formed1 
fall1 and flow away2 and during such    
brief moments  we nevertheless have the 
time to create a world and live in it4  
,it is  the nobility and the mystery of 
life that it should be of such little   
account and yet be capable of such great
 things1 for the most humble  creature  
is still very important1--one of the    
atoms without which the  mass would     
possess neither its proper weight nor   
form4 ,it has its part  in the universal
 movement2 it is one of the elements of 

the movement's  equilibrium and its     
periodicity4    ,each one1 then1 should 
love his life1 even though it be not    
,very  attractive1 for it is the only   
life4 ,it is a boon that will never     
return and that each person should tend 
and enjoy with care2 it is  one's       
capital1 large or small1 and can not be 
treated as an investment  like those    
whose dividends are payable through     
eternity4 ,life is an  annuity2 nothing 
is more certain than that4 ,so that all 
efforts are  to be respected that tend  
to ameliorate the tenure of this        
perishable  possession which1 at the end
 of every day1 has already lost a little
  of its value4 ,eternity1 the bait by  
which simple folk are still lured1  is  
not situated beyond life1 but in life   
itself1 and is divided among  all men1  
all creatures4 ,each of us holds but a  
small portion of it1 but  that share is 
so precious that it suffices to enrich  
the poorest4 ,let  us then take the     
bitter and the sweet in confidence1 and 

when the fall  of the days seems to     
whirl about us1 let us remember that    
dusk is also  dawn4                     
,,insinuations      ,esthetic ,morality4
    ,perhaps we ought to renounce such  
distinctions as beautiful and ugly1     
good and bad1 good and evil1 and so on1 
and consider in life's acts  only the   
curve of movements4 ,thus morality and  
esthetics would blend4  ,already men of 
more than average culture consider the  
subject of a  painting only to judge    
whether the painter has submitted to the
 same  logic the subject of the picture 
itself1 the composition that compasses  
it1 the color that unites it to the     
vital milieu4 ,a subject1 in art1  may  
be criticized only in relation to the   
purpose of the work and the  manner in  
which it is treated4 ,it might be the   
same with human acts1  in which case    
they would be judged only according to  
their opportunity  and their esthetic   
curves4 ,one must act1--must be always  
stirring2 life  is a series of          

movements1 the lines of which interlace4
 ,this forms a  design4 ,is it          
harmonious8 ,that is the whole question2
 that is all of  morality4    ,another  
,point of ,view4    ,in order to make a 
system of morality by separating what is
 good from  what is evil we must have   
fixed principles1 a definite            
belief1--and  we live in an age of      
skepticism4 ,doubtless religion is not  
true1 but  neither is anti-religion     
true3 truth dwells in a perfect         
indifference4  ,governments should      
restrict themselves to a truly          
scientific neutrality  and consider all 
manifestations of intelligence or       
feeling legitimate1  whatever their     
nature4 ,the ,state should be but a     
visible providence1 a  sovereign police 
that would protect the exercise of all  
human activity1  opposing only those    
deeds which could fetter the plenitude  
of all  liberties1 of every kind4    ,it
 is here that one must make a           
distinction1 though it is hardly        

scientific1 between the body and the    
mind1 sensitive matter and the  will4   
,without a doubt acts directed against  
bodily sensibility should  be repressed2
 but the case is not the same with acts 
against the  intellectual sensibility4  
,acts called immoral may be prohibited  
in such  a measure as custom recommends2
 provocations to immoral acts should be 
permitted4 ,the only crime is the crime 
of violence4 ,it matters little  that ,i
 am asked to do something by written or 
spoken word2 the evil  begins only when 
,i am made to do so by force4    ,the   
,word ,god4    ,renan loved it1 finding 
it convenient for the connotation of an 
entire order of ideas1 none of which is 
easily limited verbally4 ,it  is        
undefinable2 and moreover1 if it were   
defined it would lose all  its value4   
,god is not all that exists2 ,god is all
 that does not exist4  ,therein resides 
the power and the charm of that         
mysterious word4 ,god is  tradition1    
,god is legend1 ,god is folklore1 ,god  

is a fairy-tale1 ,god is  a romance1    
,god is a lie1 ,god is a bell1 ,god is a
 church window1 ,god is  religion1 ,god 
is all that is absurd1 useless1         
invisible1 intangible1  all that is     
nothingness and that symbolizes         
nothingness4 ,god is the  nihil in      
tenebris--7nothing in the darkness7--men
 have made of him  light1 life and love4
    ,money4    ,it is hard to read      
without irritation the old pleasantries 
of the  journalists and the ancient     
lamentations of socialists upon the     
worship  of the golden calf4 ,to rail at
 money1 to wax indignant against it1 are
  equally silly4 ,money is nothing2 its 
power is purely symbolical4 ,money  is  
the sign of liberty4 ,to curse money is 
to curse liberty1--to curse  life1 which
 is nothing1 if it be not free4         
,popular simplicity adores money4 ,look 
at that poor huckstress3 she  makes the 
sign of the cross with the first coin   
she takes in during the  morning4 ,a    
,god has come to visit her and bless    

her4 ,it is a communion  at once mystic 
and real1 in the guise of metal4        
,money1 which is liberty1 is also       
fecundation4 ,it is the universal sperm 
without which human societies would     
remain but barren wombs4 ,paganism1     
which knew and understood everything1   
opens to a shower of gold from  on high 
the conquered thighs of ,dana4 ,that is 
what we should see  on our coins1       
instead of a meaningless head1 if we    
were capable of  contemplating without  
embarrassment that religious tableau4   
,antinomy    ,the most interesting thing
 about man is man as the human animal4  
,almost  all the rest is folly4 ,as soon
 as he loses contact with nature1 with  
primitive nature1 man wanders4 ,yet it  
is this very divagation that  is called 
reason1 wisdom1 morality4 ,and the      
natural conduct that man  might follow1 
and which he sometimes does follow1 is  
called unreason1  immorality4 ,but1     
through a balance of logic1 this        
immorality that we  disparage we make   

the sole object of our dreams1 our      
desires1 our  speeches1 our acts1 our   
meditations1 our dissertations1 our art 
and our  science4    ,the               
,supernumerary4    ,monsieur ,tarde1 an 
ingenious and bitter philosopher1 has   
thus defined  life3 ,the pursuit of the 
impossible through the useless4    ,that
 deserves to endure4 ,it is one of those
 sentences that one would  like to see  
engraved in gold upon the marbles at    
street corners4 ,it is  undeniable that 
in endowing man with an immortal soul   
,christianity gave  to life an          
inestimable worth4    ,deprived of the  
infinite1 man has become what he always 
was3 a  supernumerary4    ,he hardly    
counts2 he forms part of the troupe     
called ,humanity2 if  he misses a cue1  
he is hissed2 and if he drops through   
the trapdoor  another puppet is in      
readiness to take his place4            
,,footprints ,,on ,,the ,,sand          
,posterity is a schoolboy who is        
condemned to learn a hundred verses by  

heart4 ,he learns ten of them and       
mumbles a few syllables of the rest4    
,the ten are glory2 the rest is literary
 history4    ,traditions8 ,of course1   
tradition4 ,but do you not believe that 
there is  a beginning to everything1    
even to tradition8    ,anti-clericalism 
works for the benefit of the dissident  
sect4 ,in  ,england1 religious          
radicalism recruits ,catholics2 in      
,france it recruits  ,protestants4      
,man can no more see the world than a   
fish can see the river bank4    ,many a 
time have ,i written the word beauty1   
but almost never without  being         
conscious of writing down an absurdity4 
,there are beautiful  things1 but there 
is no such thing as ,beauty3 that is an 
abridged  expression4 ,it cannot be     
taken in an absolute sense2 there is no 
,absolute4    ,civilization is the      
cultivation of everything that          
,christianity calls  vice4444    ,for   
two thousand years ,christianity1       
impudently playing with the  meaning of 

words1 has been telling us3 ,life is    
death1 death is life4 ,it  is time to   
consult the dictionary4    ,politics    
depends upon statesmen in about the same
 measure that the  weather depends upon 
astronomers4    ,there are two courses  
open to the prophet3 either to announce 
a future  in conformity with the        
past1--or to be mistaken4    ,an        
imbecile is never bored3 he contemplates
 himself4    ,nothing is better for     
spiritual advancement and the detachment
 of the  flesh than a close reading of  
the ,erotic ,dictionary4    ,the greater
 part of men who speak ill of women are 
speaking ill of a  certain woman4       
,the man of genius may dwell unknown1   
but one always may recognize the  path  
he has followed into the forest4 ,it was
 a giant who passed that  way4 ,the     
branches are broken at a height that    
other men cannot reach4    ,werther     
possesses great interest because ,goethe
 afterward wrote  ,faust1 ,wilhelm      
,meister1 and so many other works1 all  

different4 ,the  ,werther of those who  
revamp their first book fifteen or      
thirty times  loses with each new work a
 little of its initial worth2 after the 
third book it is worth almost nothing4  
,at first1 however1 one cannot  tell    
whether that ,werther is the product of 
a brain or of a mould2  that is why the 
first book is sacred4    ,an unnamable  
critic notes some of the flaming errors 
of ,verhaeren1--a  few among a hundred  
others4 ,it is thither1 toward the      
error1 toward  the stain1 toward the    
wound1 that the mediocre spirit1 like   
the fly1  wings its way unerringly4 ,he 
looks at neither the eyes1 the hair1    
the hands1 the throat1 nor all the grace
 of the woman passing by2 he  sees only1
 the mud with which some churl has      
bespattered her gown2 he  rejoices at   
the sight2 he would like to see the spot
 grow and devour  both the gown and the 
flesh of its wearer2 he would have      
everything as  ugly1 as dirty and       
despicable as himself4                  

,dialogue4--,,god3 ,who has made you    
man8 ,,man3 ,who has made you ,god8     
,religions turn madly about sexual      
questions4    ,the world will never     
forgive the ,jews for having disdained  
the religion  which they gave to the    
world4 ,there is in this a sort of      
intellectual  treason which reminds one 
of those merchants who do not wear1 or  
eat1  or drink their own merchandise4   
,when one comes to define the philosophy
 of the nineteenth century1 one  will   
discover that it was only theology4     
,an opinion is shocking only when it is 
a conviction4    ,nothing so imparts the
 satisfaction of having accomplished    
one's duty  as a good night's sleep1 an 
excellent meal1 a beautiful moment of   
love4    ,what is life8 ,a series of    
sensations4 ,what is a sensation8 ,a    
remembrance4    ,one does n't live4 ,one
 has lived4 ,life1 said an old man1 is a
 regret4    ,the terrible thing about   
the quest for truth is that you find it4
    ,there are things which one must    

have the courage not to write4    ,as to
 possessing the truth3 ,i think of those
 explorers who have with  them a tame   
lion1 and who sleep with one eye open4  
,those men who live with the greatest   
intensity are often the ones who  seem  
to take least interest in life4    ,to  
have a solid foundation of              
skepticism1--that is to say1 the faculty
  of changing at any moment1 of turning 
back1 of facing successively the        
metamorphoses of life4    ,learning for 
learning's sake is perhaps as coarse as 
eating for  eating's sake4    ,it is a  
singular thing3 in literature1 when the 
form is not new1  neither is the        
content4    ,man is an animal that      
arrived2 that is all4    ,it was an     
accident that endowed man with          
intelligence4 ,he has made use  of it3  
he invented stupidity4    ,sexual       
modesty is an advance over the          
exhibitionism of monkeys4    ,modesty is
 the delicate form of hypocrisy4        
,nothing so softens the obduracy of     

chaste hearts as the certainty of       
secrecy4    ,the notion that the dead   
are not dead assumes1 in the crowd1     
comical  forms4 ,i read in a novel      
7#aija73 ,madeleine read the letter over
 again4  ,m4 ,piot was dead1 the poor   
man6 ,how cold he must be in that north 
wind6 ,men are stupid4    ,you have     
doubts8 ,about what8 ,about whom8 ,about
 ,god8 ,why1 that's a very  simple      
matter3 write to him4--,i haven't his   
address4--,such1 in fact1 is  the state 
of the question4    ,revolutionary      
socialists make me think of the fellow  
who1 having a  piano that was out of    
tune1 would say3 ,let's smash this piano
 and  throw the pieces into the fire2 in
 its place we'll install an ,aeolian    
harp4    ,christianity has already won  
three great victories3 ,constantine1 the
  ,reform1 the ,revolution4 ,a fourth is
 being awaited1 ,collectivism1 after    
which it is probable that the ,strong1  
wearied at last of being bullied1  will 
revolt against the ,weak and reduce them

 to slavery--once again4    ,property is
 necessary2 but it is not necessary that
 it should forever  remain in the same  
hands4    ,to ameliorate and raise the  
standard of the workingmen to the       
bourgeois  level1 is perhaps to create a
 race of slaves content with their      
lot1--a cast of comfortable ,pariahs4   
,thought harms the loins4 ,one cannot at
 the same time carry burdens and  ideas4
    ,said ,sixtus3 ,believe in nothing1 
not even the trade you follow1 not  even
 the hand you caress1 the eyes in which 
you are mirrored1 not even              
yourself1--above all1 not in yourself4  
,the true philosopher does not desire to
 see his ideas applied4 ,he knows  that 
they would be ill carried out1 deformed1
 vulgarized4 ,if need be1  he would     
actually oppose such a course3 this has 
happened4    ,modesty is a timid        
confession of pride4    ,the ill are    
always optimistic4 ,perhaps optimism    
itself is an illness4    ,there is a    
simulation of intelligence1 just as     

there is a simulation of  virtue4       
,mr4 ,x used to say3 ,some people need a
 great deal in order to retain a        
little2 as for me1 ,i need a little to  
retain a great deal4    ,science is     
worth what the scientist is worth4      
,scholars spread the rumor that science 
is impersonal4 ,scholars8 ,they  are    
scholars as much as the masons are      
architects4    ,the people may make     
uprisings2 but revolutions1 never4      
,revolutions  always come from above4   
,descartes wrote to ,balzac3 ,every day 
,i walk amidst an immense people1       
almost as tranquilly as you may walk in 
your lanes4 ,the men ,i meet  produce   
upon me the same impression as if ,i    
were gazing upon the trees  of your     
forests or the flocks of your           
country-side4 ,all the weakness  of the 
metaphysicians is explained by these two
 scornful sentences4  ,in order to      
understand life it is not only necessary
 not to be  indifferent to men1 but not 
to be indifferent to flocks1 to trees4  

,one  should be indifferent to nothing4 
,the superstition which1 among the      
ancients1 caused them to look upon      
new-born weaklings1 lame1 blind and     
hunchbacked infants1 as tokens of       
divine anger1 and to sacrifice them1 was
 happier than the religious or          
scientific sentimentality that tolerates
 them1 brings them up1 making  of them  
half-men and introducing eternal germs  
of decrepitude among the  race4    ,pity
 is perhaps at bottom only cowardice4   
,we pity only ourselves or  those whom  
we fear4    ,nietzsche stupefies4 ,why8 
,calm reflection will show that he      
almost  always expresses common-sense   
truths4    ,nietzsche was a revealer1 in
 the new photographic sense4 ,contact   
with  his work has brought to light     
truths that were slumbering in men's    
minds4    ,happiness1 like wealth1 has  
its parasites4    ,one does not dwell in
 a house2 one dwells in himself4    ,put
 a pig in a palace and he'll make a pen 
of it4    ,paul ,bourget still believes 

in duchesses4 ,what is there astonishing
  about that8 ,there are many people who
 believe in ghosts4    ,the crowd has no
 idea of how much sensibility1 and      
intelligence it  requires to enjoy the  
perfume of a rose or the smile of a     
woman4    ,sainte-,beuve is too         
scholarly4 ,he cannot stand nude before 
a nude  statue2 he has to have pockets  
from which to take out note-books and   
papers4    ,a woman sometimes feels pity
 for the sorrows that she causes        
remorselessly4    ,the little girl      
expects no declaration of tenderness    
from her doll4 ,she  loves it1 and      
that's all4 ,it is thus that we should  
love4    ,the craze for decorations has 
reached such a height that actors1 they 
say1 are proud to play the rle of an    
,officer of the ,legion of ,honor4      
,i'm very fond of going to the butcher  
shop and looking at a sheep's  brains4  
,we have in our heads a reddish sponge  
of the same kind1 which  thinks4        
,love disposes one to religiosity4 ,i   

knew an atheist who wished to go  to    
church one evening to exchange vows with
 his mistress2 through  scruples1 she   
refused4    ,intelligence is perhaps but
 a malady1--a beautiful malady2 the     
oyster's  pearl4    ,there are          
anti-clericals who are in reality       
somewhat excessive  ,christians4    ,is 
not the poet who recites his verses     
before an audience really the           
nightingale singing his song8 ,not      
quite4 ,the instinct has gone astray3   
sexual mimicry1 without actual          
application4 ,the useful has become a   
game3 and this is the whole history of  
civilization4      ,how many            
contradictions6    ,eh6 ,if ,i loaded my
 wagon all on the same side1 ,i'd tumble
 it over4      ,persons full of morality
 preach4 ,everything that they judge    
criminal ,i  either practise or think4  
,and nevertheless4444    ,love ye one   
another4 ,how do that1 without knowing  
one another8 ,no1 no2  a little modesty1
 a little dignity4    ,it is shameful to

 be ashamed of one's pleasures4    ,to  
be above everything4 ,to scorn          
everything and love everything4 ,to     
know that there is nothing1 and that    
this nothing1 none the less1  contains  
everything4    ,in order to be true1 a  
novel must be false4    ,to be          
impersonal is to be personal in a       
particular manner3 for  instance1       
,flaubert4 ,in the literary jargon one  
would say3 the objective  is one of the 
forms of the subjective4    ,proudhon   
said3 ,after the persecutors1 ,i know   
nothing more hateful than  the martyrs4 
,not having thought of this myself1 ,i  
feel pleasure in  copying it4    ,to be 
seen4 ,the man of letters loves not only
 to be read but to be  seen4 ,happy to  
be by himself1 he would be happier still
 if people knew  that he was happy to be
 by himself1 working in solitude at     
night under  his lamp2 and he would be  
indeed happiest of all if1 after he has 
closed his door1 his servant should open
 it for a visitor and show to  the      

importunate fellow1 through the chink1  
the man of letters happy to  be by      
himself4      ,man begins by loving love
 and ends by loving a woman4    ,woman  
begins by loving a man and ends by      
loving love4      ,said a country vicar 
to a fanatically scrupulous devotee3    
,god is not  so silly as that4    ,he   
has known ,claude ,bernard1 ,flaubert1  
,barbey d',aurevilly1 ,goncourt1        
,manet1 ,villiers de l',isle-,adam1     
,renan1 ,taine1 ,pasteur1 ,verlaine1    
,tarde1  ,mallarm1 ,puvis de ,chavannes1
 ,marey1 ,gauguin1 ,curie1 ,berthelot2  
he  knows ,rodin1 ,ribot1 ,renoir1      
,france1 ,quinton1 ,monet1              
,poincar1--and he  complains6 ,he       
bewails his country's decadence3 ,the   
ingrate6    ,nietzsche opened the gate4 
,now one may walk straight into the     
orchard  of which1 before him1 it was   
necessary to scale the walls4    ,i am  
vexed that people should have thought so
 many things before me4 ,i  seem like a 
reflection4 ,but perhaps some day ,i'll 

cause another man to  repeat the same   
thing4    ,i do not vouch for the fact  
that none of these observations may be  
found in my previous writings1 or that  
none will figure in any future  work4   
,they may even be found in writings that
 are not mine4