Human All-Too-Human, Part 1

NINTH DIVISION

MAN ALONE BY HIMSELF

The Enemies of Truth. – Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

A Topsy-turvy World. – We criticise a thinker more severely when he puts an unpleasant statement before us; and yet it would be more reasonable to do so when we find his statement pleasant.

Decided Character. – A man far oftener appears to have a decided character from persistently following his temperament than from persistently following his principles.

The One Thing Needful. – One thing a man must have: either a naturally light disposition or a disposition lightened by art and knowledge.

The Passion For Things. – Whoever sets his passion on things (sciences, arts, the common weal, the interests of culture) withdraws much fervour from his passion for persons (even when they are the representatives of those things; as statesmen, philosophers, and artists are the representatives of their creations).

Calmness in Action. – As a cascade in its descent becomes more deliberate and suspended, so the great man of action usually acts with more calmness than his strong passions previous to action would lead one to expect.

Not Too Deep. – Persons who grasp a matter in all its depth seldom remain permanently true to it. They have just brought the depth up into the light, and there is always much evil to be seen there.

The Illusion of Idealists. – All idealists imagine that the cause which they serve is essentially better than all other causes, and will not believe that if their cause is really to flourish it requires precisely the same evil-smelling manure which all other human undertakings have need of.

Self-observation. – Man is exceedingly well protected from himself and guarded against his self-exploring and self-besieging; as a rule he can perceive nothing of himself but his outworks. The actual fortress is inaccessible, and even invisible, to him, unless friends and enemies become traitors and lead him inside by secret paths.

The Right Calling. – Men can seldom hold on to a calling unless they believe or persuade themselves that it is really more important than any other. Women are the same with their lovers.

Nobility of Disposition. – Nobility of disposition consists largely in good-nature and absence of distrust, and therefore contains precisely that upon which money-grabbing and successful men take a pleasure in walking with superiority and scorn.

Goal and Path. – Many are obstinate with regard to the once-chosen path, few with regard to the goal.

The Offensiveness in an Individual Way of Life. – All specially individual lines of conduct excite irritation against him who adopts them; people feel themselves reduced to the level of commonplace creatures by the extraordinary treatment he bestows on himself.

The Privilege of Greatness. – It is the privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness with insignificant gifts.

Unintentionally Noble. – A person behaves with unintentional nobleness when he has accustomed himself to seek naught from others and always to give to them.

A Condition of Heroism. – When a person wishes to become a hero, the serpent must previously have become a dragon, otherwise he lacks his proper enemy.

Friends. – Fellowship in joy, and, not sympathy in sorrow, makes people friends.

Making Use of Ebb and Flow. – For the purpose of knowledge we must know how to make use of the inward current which draws us towards a thing, and also of the current which after a time draws us away from it.

Joy in Itself. – "Joy in the Thing" people say; but in reality it is joy in itself by means of the thing.

The Unassuming Man. – He who is unassuming towards persons manifests his presumption all the more with regard to things (town, State, society, time, humanity). That is his revenge.

Envy and Jealousy. – Envy and jealousy are the pudenda of the human soul. The comparison may perhaps be carried further.

The Noblest Hypocrite. – It is a very noble hypocrisy not to talk of one's self at all.

Vexation. – Vexation is a physical disease, which is not by any means cured when its cause is subsequently removed.

The Champions of Truth. – Truth does not find fewest champions when it is dangerous to speak it, but when it is dull.

More Troublesome Even Than Enemies. – Persons of whose sympathetic attitude we are not, in all circumstances, convinced, while for some reason or other (gratitude, for instance) we are obliged to maintain the appearance of unqualified sympathy with them, trouble our imagination far more than our enemies do.

Free Nature. – We are so fond of being out among Nature, because it has no opinions about us.

Each Superior in One Thing. – In civilised intercourse every one feels himself superior to all others in at least one thing; kindly feelings generally are based thereon, inasmuch as every one can, in certain circumstances, render help, and is therefore entitled to accept help without shame.

Consolatory Arguments. – In the case of a death we mostly use consolatory arguments not so much to alleviate the grief as to make excuses for feeling so easily consoled.

Persons Loyal to Their Convictions. – Whoever is very busy retains his general views and opinions almost unchanged. So also does every one who labours in the service of an idea; he will nevermore examine the idea itself, he no longer has any time to do so; indeed, it is against his interests to consider it as still admitting of discussion.

Morality and Quantity. – The higher morality of one man as compared with that of another, often lies merely in the fact that his aims are quantitively greater. The other, living in a circumscribed sphere, is dragged down by petty occupations.

"The Life" As the Proceeds of Life. – A man may stretch himself out ever so far with his knowledge; he may seem to himself ever so objective, but eventually he realises nothing therefrom but his own biography.

Iron Necessity. – Iron necessity is a thing which has been found, in the course of history, to be neither iron nor necessary.

From Experience. – The unreasonableness of a thing is no argument against its existence, but rather a condition thereof.

Truth. – Nobody dies nowadays of fatal truths, there are too many antidotes to them.

A Fundamental Insight. – There is no pre-established harmony between the promotion of truth and the welfare of mankind.

Man's Lot. – He who thinks most deeply knows that he is always in the wrong, however he may act and decide.

Truth As Circe. – Error has made animals into men; is truth perhaps capable of making man into an animal again?

The Danger of Our Culture. – We belong to a period of which the culture is in danger of being destroyed by the appliances of culture.

Greatness Means Leading the Way. – No stream is large and copious of itself, but becomes great by receiving and leading on so many tributary streams. It is so, also, with all intellectual greatnesses. It is only a question of some one indicating the direction to be followed by so many affluents; not whether he was richly or poorly gifted originally.

A Feeble Conscience. – People who talk about their importance to mankind have a feeble conscience for common bourgeois rectitude, keeping of contracts, promises, etc.

Desiring to Be Loved. – The demand to be loved is the greatest of presumptions.

Contempt For Men. – The most unequivocal sign of contempt for man is to regard everybody merely as a means to one's own ends, or of no account whatever.

Partisans Through Contradiction. – Whoever has driven men to fury against himself has also gained a party in his favour.

Forgetting Experiences. – Whoever thinks much and to good purpose easily forgets his own experiences, but not the thoughts which these experiences have called forth.

Sticking to an Opinion. – One person sticks to an opinion because he takes pride in having acquired it himself, – another sticks to it because he has learnt it with difficulty and is proud of having understood it; both of them, therefore, out of vanity.

Avoiding the Light. – Good deeds avoid the light just as anxiously as evil deeds; the latter fear that pain will result from publicity (as punishment), the former fear that pleasure will vanish with publicity (the pure pleasure per se, which ceases as soon as satisfaction of vanity is added to it).

The Length of the Day. – When one has much to put into them, a day has a hundred pockets.

The Genius of Tyranny. – When an invincible desire to obtain tyrannical power has been awakened in the soul, and constantly keeps up its fervour, even a very mediocre talent (in politicians, artists, etc.) gradually becomes an almost irresistible natural force.

The Enemy's Life. – He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy's life.19

More Important. – Unexplained, obscure matters are regarded as more important than explained, clear ones.

Valuation of Services Rendered. – We estimate services rendered to us according to the value set on them by those who render them, not according to the value they have for us.

Unhappiness. – The distinction associated with unhappiness (as if it were a sign of stupidity, unambitiousness, or commonplaceness to feel happy) is so great that when any one says to us, "How happy you are!" we usually protest.

Imagination in Anguish. – When one is afraid of anything, one's imagination plays the part of that evil spirit which springs on one's back just when one has the heaviest load to bear.

The Value of Insipid Opponents. – We sometimes remain faithful to a cause merely because its opponents never cease to be insipid.

The Value of a Profession. – A profession makes us thoughtless; that is its greatest blessing. For it is a bulwark behind which we are permitted to withdraw when commonplace doubts and cares assail us.

Talent. – Many a man's talent appears less than it is, because he has always set himself too heavy tasks.

Youth. – Youth is an unpleasant period; for then it is not possible or not prudent to be productive in any sense whatsoever.

Too Great Aims. – Whoever aims publicly at great things and at length perceives secretly that he is too weak to achieve them, has usually also insufficient strength to renounce his aims publicly, and then inevitably becomes a hypocrite.

In the Current. – Mighty waters sweep many stones and shrubs away with them; mighty spirits many foolish and confused minds.

The Dangers of Intellectual Emancipation. – In a seriously intended intellectual emancipation a person's mute passions and cravings also hope to find their advantage.

The Incarnation of the Mind. – When any one thinks much and to good purpose, not only his face but also his body acquires a sage look.

Seeing Badly and Hearing Badly. – The man who sees little always sees less than there is to see; the man who hears badly always hears something more than there is to hear.

Self-enjoyment in Vanity. – The vain man does not wish so much to be prominent as to feel himself prominent; he therefore disdains none of the expedients for self-deception and self-out-witting. It is not the opinion of others that he sets his heart on, but his opinion of their opinion

Exceptionally Vain. – He who is usually self-sufficient becomes exceptionally vain, and keenly alive to fame and praise when he is physically ill. The more he loses himself the more he has to endeavour to regain his position by means of the opinion of others.

The "Witty." – Those who seek wit do not possess it.

A Hint to the Heads of Parties. – When one can make people publicly support a cause they have also generally been brought to the point of inwardly declaring themselves in its favour, because they wish to be regarded as consistent.

Contempt. – Man is more sensitive to the contempt of others than to self-contempt.

The Tie of Gratitude. – There are servile souls who carry so far their sense of obligation for benefits received that they strangle themselves with the tie of gratitude.

The Prophet's Knack. – In predicting beforehand the procedure of ordinary individuals, it must be taken for granted that they always make use of the smallest intellectual expenditure in freeing themselves from disagreeable situations.

Man's Sole Right. – He who swerves from the traditional is a victim of the unusual; he who keeps to the traditional is its slave. The man is ruined in either case.

Below the Beast. – When a man roars with laughter he surpasses all the animals by his vulgarity.

Partial Knowledge. – He who speaks a foreign language imperfectly has more enjoyment therein than he who speaks it well. The enjoyment is with the partially initiated.

Dangerous Helpfulness. – There are people who wish to make human life harder for no other reason than to be able afterwards to offer men their life-alleviating recipes – their Christianity, for example.

Industriousness and Conscientiousness. – Industriousness and conscientiousness are often antagonists, owing to the fact that industriousness wants to pluck the fruit sour from the tree while conscientiousness wants to let it hang too long, until it falls and is bruised.

Casting Suspicion. – We endeavour to cast suspicion on persons whom we cannot endure.

The Conditions Are Lacking. – Many people wait all their lives for the opportunity to be good in their own way.

Lack of Friends. – Lack of friends leads to the inference that a person is envious or presumptuous. Many a man owes his friends merely to the fortunate circumstance that he has no occasion for envy.

Danger in Manifoldness. – With one talent more we often stand less firmly than with one less; just as a table stands better on three feet than on four.

An Exemplar For Others. – Whoever wants to set a good example must add a grain of folly to his virtue; people then imitate their exemplar and at the same time raise themselves above him, a thing they love to do.

Being a Target. – The bad things others say about us are often not really aimed at us, but are the manifestations of spite or ill-humour occasioned by quite different causes.

Easily Resigned. – We suffer but little on account of ungratified wishes if we have exercised our imagination in distorting the past.

In Danger. – One is in greatest danger of being run over when one has just got out of the way of a carriage.

The Role According to the Voice. – Whoever is obliged to speak louder than he naturally does (say, to a partially deaf person or before a large audience), usually exaggerates what he has to communicate. Many a one becomes a conspirator, malevolent gossip, or intriguer, merely because his voice is best suited for whispering.

Love and Hatred. – Love and hatred are not blind, but are dazzled by the fire which they carry about with them.

Advantageously Persecuted. – People who cannot make their merits perfectly obvious to the world endeavour to awaken a strong hostility against themselves. They have then the consolation of thinking that this hostility stands between their merits and the acknowledgment thereof – and that many others think the same thing, which is very advantageous for their recognition.

Confession. – We forget our fault when we have confessed it to another person, but he does not generally forget it.

Self-sufficiency. – The Golden Fleece of self-sufficiency is a protection against blows, but not against needle-pricks.

Shadows in the Flame. – The flame is not so bright to itself as to those whom it illuminates, – so also the wise man.

Our Own Opinions. – The first opinion that occurs to us when we are suddenly asked about anything is not usually our own, but only the current opinion belonging to our caste, position, or family; our own opinions seldom float on the surface.

The Origin of Courage. – The ordinary man is as courageous and invulnerable as a hero when he does not see the danger, when he has no eyes for it. Reversely, the hero has his one vulnerable spot upon the back, where he has no eyes.

The Danger in the Physician. – One must be born for one's physician, otherwise one comes to grief through him.

Marvellous Vanity. – Whoever has courageously prophesied the weather three times and has been successful in his hits, acquires a certain amount of inward confidence in his prophetic gift. We give credence to the marvellous and irrational when it flatters our self-esteem.

A Profession. – A profession is the backbone of life.

The Danger of Personal Influence. – Whoever feels that he exercises a great inward influence over another person must give him a perfectly free rein, must, in fact, welcome and even induce occasional opposition, otherwise he will inevitably make an enemy.

Recognition of the Heir. – Whoever has founded something great in an unselfish spirit is careful to rear heirs for his work. It is the sign of a tyrannical and ignoble nature to see opponents in all possible heirs, and to live in a state of self-defence against them.

Partial Knowledge. – Partial knowledge is more triumphant than complete knowledge; it takes things to be simpler than they are, and so makes its theory more popular and convincing.

Unsuitable For a Party-man. – Whoever thinks much is unsuitable for a party-man; his thinking leads him too quickly beyond the party.

A Bad Memory. – The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.

Self-affliction. – Want of consideration is often the sign of a discordant inner nature, which craves for stupefaction.

Martyrs. – The disciples of a martyr suffer more than the martyr.

Arrears of Vanity. – The vanity of many people who have no occasion to be vain is the inveterate habit, still surviving from the time when people had no right to the belief in themselves and only begged it in small sums from others.

Punctum Saliens of Passion. – A person falling into a rage or into a violent passion of love reaches a point when the soul is full like a hogshead, but nevertheless a drop of water has still to be added, the good will for the passion (which is also generally called the evil will). This item only is necessary, and then the hogshead overflows.

A Gloomy Thought. – It is with men as with the charcoal fires in the forest. It is only when young men have cooled down and have got charred, like these piles, that they become useful. As long as they fume and smoke they are perhaps more interesting, but they are useless and too often uncomfortable. Humanity ruthlessly uses every individual as material for the heating of its great machines; but what then is the purpose of the machines, when all individuals (that is, the human race) are useful only to maintain them? Machines that are ends in themselves: is that the umana commedia?

The Hour-hand of Life. – Life consists of rare single moments of the greatest importance, and of countless intervals during which, at best, the phantoms of those moments hover around us. Love, the Spring, every fine melody, the mountains, the moon, the sea – all speak but once fully to the heart, if, indeed, they ever do quite attain to speech. For many people have not those moments at all, and are themselves intervals and pauses in the symphony of actual life.