324-
The Psychology of the Actor.
The Psychology of the Actor.
Nietzsche - v09 - The Dawn of Day
ONCE, TWICE, AND THRICE TRUE. —Men lie
unspeakably and often, but they do not think about
it afterwards, and generally do not believe in it.
303.
· THE PASTIME OF THE PSYCHOLOGIST. -He
thinks he knows me, and fancies himself to be
subtle and important when he has any kind of rela-
tions with me; and I take care not to undeceive
him. For in such a case I should suffer for it,
while now he wishes me well because I arouse
in him a feeling of conscious superiority. There
is another, who fears that I think I know him,
and feels a sense of inferiority at this. As a
result he behaves in a timid and vacillating manner,
in my presence, and endeavours to mislead me
in regard to himself so that he may regain an
ascendancy over me.
## p. 265 (#352) ############################################
264
THE DAWN OF DAY.
kind to be found, for example, in the entourage of
Napoleon: indeed, perhaps it may have been he who
inspired the soul of his century with that romantic
prostration in the presence of the“ genius "and the
“hero,” which was so foreign to the spirit of rational-
ism of the nineteenth century—a man about whom
even Byron was not ashamed to say that he was
a “worm compared with such a being. " (The
formulæ of this prostration have been discovered by
Thomas Carlyle, that arrogant old muddle-head and
grumbler, who spent his long life in trying to ro-
manticise the common sense of his Englishmen:
but in vain ! )
299.
THE APPEARANCE OF HEROISM. — Throwing
ourselves in the midst of our enemies may be a
sign of cowardice.
300.
CONDESCENDING TOWARDS THE FLATTERER.
- It is the ultimate prudence of insatiably ambi-
tious men not only to conceal their contempt for
man which the sight of flatterers causes them: but
also to appear even condescending to them, like a
God who can be nothing if not condescending.
301.
“STRENGTH OF CHARACTER. ”—“What I'have
said once I will do”—This manner of thinking is
believed to indicate great strength of character.
## p. 265 (#353) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
· 265
How many actions are accomplished, not because
they have been selected as being the most rational,
but because at the moment when we thought of
them they influenced our ambition and vanity by
some means or another, so that we do not stop
until we have blindly carried them out. Thus they
strengthen in us our belief in our character and
our good conscience, in short our strength; whilst
the choice of the most rational acts possible brings
about a certain amount of scepticism towards our-
selves, and thus encourages a sense of weaknessin us.
302.
ONCE, TWICE, AND THRICE TRUE. —Men lie
unspeakably and often, but they do not think about
it afterwards, and generally do not believe in it.
303.
· THE PASTIME OF THE PSYCHOLOGIST. -He
thinks he knows me, and fancies himself to be
subtle and important when he has any kind of rela-
tions with me; and I take care not to undeceive
him. For in such a case I should suffer for it,
while now he wishes me well because I arouse
in him a feeling of conscious superiority. There
is another, who fears that I think I know him,
and feels a sense of inferiority at this. As a
result he behaves in a timid and vacillating manner,
in my presence, and endeavours to mislead me
in regard to himself so that he may regain an
ascendancy over me.
## p. 265 (#354) ############################################
264
THE DAWN OF DAY.
kind to be found, for example, in the entourage of
Napoleon: indeed, perhaps it may have been he who
inspired the soul of his century with that romantic
prostration in the presence of the“ genius” and the
“ hero,” which was so foreign to the spirit of rational-
ism of the nineteenth century—a man about whom
even Byron was not ashamed to say that he was
a “worm compared with such a being. " (The
formulæ of this prostration have been discovered by
Thomas Carlyle, that arrogant old muddle-head and
grumbler, who spent his long life in trying to ro-
manticise the common sense of his Englishmen:
but in vain ! )
299.
THE APPEARANCE OF HEROISM. — Throwing
ourselves in the midst of our enemies may be a
sign of cowardice.
300.
CONDESCENDING TOWARDS THE FLATTERER.
- It is the ultimate prudence of insatiably ambi-
tious men not only to conceal their contempt for
man which the sight of flatterers causes them: but
also to appear even condescending to them, like a
God who can be nothing if not condescending.
301.
“STRENGTH OF CHARACTER. ”—“What I have
said once I will do ”—This manner of thinking is
believed to indicate great strength of character.
## p. 265 (#355) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
. 265
How many actions are accomplished, not because
they have been selected as being the most rational,
but because at the moment when we thought of
them they influenced our ambition and vanity by
some means or another, so that we do not stop
until we have blindly carried them out. Thus they
strengthen in us our belief in our character and
our good conscience, in short our strength; whilst
the choice of the most rational acts possible brings
about a certain amount of scepticism towards our-
selves, and thus encourages a sense of weaknessin us.
302.
ONCE, TWICE, AND THRICE TRUE. —Men lie
unspeakably and often, but they do not think about
it afterwards, and generally do not believe in it.
303.
· THE PASTIME OF THE PSYCHOLOGIST. -He
thinks he knows me, and fancies himself to be
subtle and important when he has any kind of rela-
tions with me; and I take care not to undeceive
him. For in such a case I should suffer for it,
while now he wishes me well because I arouse
in him a feeling of conscious superiority — There
is another, who fears that I think I know him,
and feels a sense of inferiority at this. As a
result he behaves in a timid and vacillating manner,
in my presence, and endeavours to mislead me
in regard to himself so that he may regain an
ascendancy over me.
## p. 265 (#356) ############################################
264
THE DAWN OF DAY.
kind to be found, for example, in the entourage of
Napoleon: indeed, perhaps it may have been he who
inspired the soul of his century with that romantic
prostration in the presence of the “genius "and the
“hero,” which was so foreign to the spirit of rational-
ism of the nineteenth century—a man about whom
even Byron was not ashamed to say that he was
a "worm compared with such a being. ” (The
formulæ of this prostration have been discovered by
Thomas Carlyle, that arrogant old muddle-head and
grumbler, who spent his long life in trying to ro-
manticise the common sense of his Englishmen:
but in vain ! )
299.
THE APPEARANCE OF HEROISM. —Throwing
ourselves in the midst of our enemies may be a
sign of cowardice.
300.
CONDESCENDING TOWARDS THE FLATTERER.
-It is the ultimate prudence of insatiably ambi-
tious men not only to conceal their contempt for
man which the sight of flatterers causes them : but
also to appear even condescending to them, like a
God who can be nothing if not condescending.
301.
“STRENGTH OF CHARACTER. ”—“What I have
said once I will do”—This manner of thinking is
believed to indicate great strength of character.
## p. 265 (#357) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 265
How many actions are accomplished, not because
they have been selected as being the most rational,
but because at the moment when we thought of
them they influenced our ambition and vanity by
some means or another, so that we do not stop
until we have blindly carried them out. Thus they
strengthen in us our belief in our character and
our good conscience, in short our strength; whilst
the choice of the most rational acts possible brings
about a certain amount of scepticism towards our-
selves,and thus encourages a sense of weaknessinus.
302.
Once, Twice, and Thrice True. —Men lie
unspeakably and often, but they do not think about
it afterwards, and generally do not believe in it.
303.
The Pastime of the Psychologist. —He
thinks he knows me, and fancies himself to be
subtle and important when he has any kind of rela-
tions with me; and I take care not to undeceive
him. For in such a case I should suffer for it,
while now he wishes me well because I arouse
in him a feeling of conscious superiority. —There
is another, who fears that I think I know him,
and feels a sense of inferiority at this. As a
result he behaves in a timid and vacillating manner,
in my presence, and endeavours to mislead me
in regard to himself so that he may regain an
ascendancy over me.
## p. 266 (#358) ############################################
266 THE DAWN OF DAY.
304.
The Destroyers of the World. —When
some men fail to accomplish what they desire to
do they exclaim angrily, "May the whole world
perish! " This odious feeling is the height of envy
which reasons thus: because I cannot have one
thing the whole world in general must have no-
thing! the whole world shall not exist!
305.
Greed. —When we set out to buy something our
greed increases with the cheapness of the object—
Why? Is it because the small differences in price
make up the little eye of greed?
306.
The Greek Ideal. —What did the Greeks ad-
mire in Ulysses? Above all his capacity for lying
and for taking a shrewd and dreadful revenge, his
being equal to circumstances, his appearing to
be nobler than the noblest when necessary, his
ability to be everything he desired, his heroic
pertinacity, having all means within his command,
possessing genius—the genius of Ulysses is an
object of the admiration of the gods, they smile
when they think of it—all this is the Greek ideal!
What is most remarkable about it is that the con-
tradiction between seeming and being was not felt
in any way, and that as a consequence it could not
be morally estimated. Were there ever such ac-
complished actors?
## p. 267 (#359) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 267
307-
Facta! Yes, Facta Ficta! —The historian
need not concern himself with events which have
actually happened, but only those which are
supposed to have happened; for none but the latter
have produced an effect. The same remark applies
to the imaginary heroes. His theme—this so-called
world-history—what is it but opinions on imag-
inary actions and their imaginary motives, which
in their turn give rise to opinions and actions
the reality of which, however, is at once evaporated,
and is only effective as vapour,—a continual gener-
ating and impregnating of phantoms above the
dense mists of unfathomable reality. All historians
record things which have never existed, except in
imagination.
308.
Not to understand Trade is Noble. —To
sell one's virtue only at the highest price, or
even to carry on usury with it as a teacher, a
civil servant, or an artist, for instance, brings genius
and talent down to the level of the common trades-
man. We must be careful not to be clever with
our wisdom!
3°9-
Fear and Love. —The general knowledge of
mankind has been furthered to a greater extent by
fear than by love; for fear endeavours to find out
who the other is, what he can do, and what he
wants: it would be dangerous and prejudicial to
## p. 268 (#360) ############################################
268 THE DAWN OF DAY.
be deceived on this point. On the other hand,
love is induced by its secret craving to discover
as many beautiful qualities as possible in the
loved object, or to raise this loved object as
high as possible: it is a joy and an advantage
to love to be deceived in this way—and this is
why it does it.
310.
Good-natured People. —Good-natured people
have acquired their character from the continual fear
of foreign attacks in which their ancestors lived,—
these ancestors, who were in the habit of mitigating
and tranquillising, humbling themselves, preventing,
distracting, flattering, and apologising, concealing
their grief and anger, and preserving an unruffled
countenance,—and they ultimately bequeathed all
this delicate and well-formed mechanism to their
children and grandchildren. These latter, thanks
to their more favourable lot, did not experience this
feeling of dread, but they nevertheless continue in
the same groove.
3i 1-
The so-called Soul. —The sum-total of those
internal movements which come naturally to men,
and which they can consequently set in motion
readily and gracefully, is called the soul—men are
looked upon as void of soul when they let it be
seen that their inward emotions are difficult and
painful to them.
## p. 269 (#361) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 269
312.
The Forgetful Ones. — In outbursts of
passion and the delusions of dreams and madness,
man rediscovers his own primitive history, and that
of humanity: animality and its savage grimaces.
For once his memory stretches back into the past,
while his civilised condition is developed from the
forgetfulness of these primitive experiences, that is
to say, from the failing of this memory. He who,
as a forgetful man of a higher nature, has always
remained aloof from these things, does not under-
stand men—but it is an advantage if from time
to time there are individuals who do not under-
stand men, individuals who are, so to speak, created
from the divine seed and born of reason.
313-
The Friend whom we want no Longer.
—That friend whose hopes we cannot satisfy we
should prefer to have as an enemy.
314-
In the Society of Thinkers. —In the midst
of the ocean of becoming we adventurers and birds
of passage wake up on an island no larger than a
small boat, and here we look round us for a moment
with as much haste and curiosity as possible; for
how quickly may some gale blow us away or some
wave sweep over the little island and leave nothing
of us remaining I Here, however, upon this little
## p. 270 (#362) ############################################
270 THE DAWN OF DAY.
piece of ground we meet with other birds of passage
and hear of still earlier ones,—and thus we live
together for one precious minute of recognition and
divining, amid the cheerful fluttering of wings
and joyful chirping, and then adventure in spirit
far out on the ocean, feeling no less proud than the
ocean itself.
315.
Parting with Something. —To give up some
of our property, or to waive a right, gives pleasure
when it denotes great wealth. Generosity may be
placed in this category.
316.
Weak Sects. —Those sects which feel that they
will always remain weak hunt up a few intelligent
individual adherents, wishing to make up in quality
what they lack in quantity. This gives rise to no
little danger for intelligent minds.
317.
The Judgment of the Evening. —The man
who meditates upon his day's and life's work when
he has reached the end of his journey and feels
weary, generally arrives at a melancholy conclusion;
but this is not the fault of the day or his life, but
of weariness. —In the midst of creative work we do
not take time, as a rule, to meditate upon life and
existence, nor yet in the midst of our pleasures:
## p. 271 (#363) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 271
but if by a chance this did happen once we should
no longer believe him to be right who waited for
the seventh day and for repose to find everything
that exists very beautiful. —He had missed the
right moment.
318.
Beware of Systemisers ! —There is a certain
amount of comedy about systemisers: in trying to
complete a system and to round off its horizon they
have to try to let their weaker qualities appear in
the same style as their stronger ones. —They wish
to represent complete and uniformly strong natures.
319-
Hospitality. —The object of hospitality is to
paralyse all hostile feeling in a stranger. When
we cease to look upon strangers as enemies,
hospitality diminishes; it flourishes so long as its
evil presupposition does.
320.
The Weather. —An exceptional and uncertain
state of the weather makes men suspicious even of
one another: at the same time they come to like
innovations, for they must diverge from their ac-
customed habits. This is why despots like those
countries where the weather is moral.
321.
Danger in Innocence. —Innocent people
become easy victims in all circumstances because
## p. 272 (#364) ############################################
272 THE DAWN OF DAY.
their lack of knowledge prevents them from dis-
tinguishing between moderation and excess, and
from being betimes on their guard against them-
selves. It is as a result of this that innocent, that
is, ignorant young women become accustomed to
the frequent enjoyment of sexual intercourse, and
feel the want of it very much in later years when
their husbands fall ill or grow prematurely old.
It is on account of this harmless and orthodox
conception, as if frequent sexual intercourse were
right and proper, that they come to experience
a need which afterwards exposes them to the
severest tribulations, and even worse.
Considering the matter, however, from a higher
and more general point of view, whoever loves a
man or a thing without knowing him or it, falls
a prey to something which he would not love if
he could see it. In all cases where experience,
precautions, and prudent steps are required, it is the
innocent man who will be most thoroughly cor-
rupted, for he has to drink with closed eyes the
dregs and most secret poison of everything put
before him. Let us consider the procedure of all
princes, churches, sects, parties, and corporations:
Is not the innocent man always used as the sweetest
bait for the most dangerous and wicked traps ? —
just as Ulysses availed himself of the services of
the innocent Neoptolemos to cheat the old and
infirm anchorite and ogre of Lemnos out of his bow
and arrows. Christianity, with its contempt for
the world, has made ignorance a virtue—innocence,
perhaps because the most frequent result of this
innocence is precisely, as I have indicated above,
## p. 273 (#365) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 273
guilt, the sense of guilt, and despair: In other words,
a virtue which leads to Heaven by the circuitous
route of Hell; for only then can the gloomy pro-
pylaea of Christian salvation be thrown open, and
only then is the promise of a posthumous second
innocence effective. This is one of the finest in-
ventions of Christianity!
322.
Living without a Doctor when Possible.
—It seems to me that a sick man lives more care-
lessly when he is under medical observation than
when he attends to his own health. In the first
case it suffices for him to obey strictly all his
Doctor's prescriptions; but in the second case he
gives more attention to the ultimate object of these
prescriptions, namely, his health; he observes
much more, and submits himself to a more severe
discipline than the directions of his physician would
compel him to do.
All rules have this effect: they distract our
attention from the fundamental aim of the rule, and
make us more thoughtless. But to what heights of
immoderation and destruction would men have
risen if ever they had completely and honestly left
everything to the Godhead as to their physician,
and acted in accordance with the words "as God
will"!
323-
The Darkening of the Heavens. —Do you
know the vengeance of those timid people who
s
## p. 274 (#366) ############################################
274 THE DAWN OF DAY.
behave in society just as if they had stolen their
limbs? The vengeance of the humble, Christian-
like souls who just manage to slink quietly through
the world? The vengeance of those who always
judge hastily, and are as hastily said to be in the
wrong? The vengeance of all classes of drunkards,
for whom the morning is always the most miser-
able part of the day? and also of all kinds of
invalids and sick and depressed people who have no
longer the courage to become healthy?
The number of these petty vengeful people, and,
even more, the number of their petty acts of revenge,
is incalculable. The air around us is continually
whizzing with the discharged arrows of their
malignity, so that the sun and the sky of their
lives become darkened thereby,— and, alas! not
only theirs, but more often ours and other men's:
and this is worse than the frequent wounds which
they make on our skins and hearts. Do we not
occasionally deny the existence of the sun and sky
merely because we have not seen them for so long?
—Well then, solitude! because of this, solitude!
324-
The Psychology of the Actor. —It is the
blissful illusion of all great actors to imagine that
the historical personages whom they are repre-
senting were really in the same state of mind as
they themselves are when interpreting them—but
in this they are very much mistaken. Their powers
of imitation and divination, which they would fain
exhibit as a clairvoyant faculty, penetrate only
## p. 275 (#367) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 275
far enough to explain gestures, accent, and looks,
and in general anything exterior: that is, they can
grasp the shadow of the soul of a great hero, states-
man, or warrior, or of an ambitious, jealous, or
desperate person—they penetrate fairly near to
the soul, but they never reach the inmost spirit of
the man they are imitating.
It would, indeed, be a fine thing to discover that
instead of thinkers, psychologists, or experts we
required nothing but clairvoyant actors to throw
light upon the essence of any condition. Let us
never forget, whenever such pretensions are heard,
that the actor is nothing but an ideal ape—so much
of an ape is he, indeed, that he is not capable of
believing in the "essence" or in the "essential ":
everything becomes for him merely performance,
intonation, attitude, stage, scenery, and public.
325.
Living and Believing Apart. —The means
of becoming the prophet and wonder-worker of
one's age are the same to-day as in former times:
one must live apart, with little knowledge, some
ideas, and a great deal of presumption—we then
finish by believing that mankind cannot do without
us, because it is clear that we can do without it.
When we are inspired with this belief we find
faith. Finally, a piece of advice to him who
needs it (it was given to Wesley by Boehler,
his spiritual teacher): "Preach faith until you
have it; then you will preach it because you
have it! "
## p. 276 (#368) ############################################
276 THE DAWN OF DAY.
326.
Knowing our Circumstances. — We may
estimate our powers, but not our power. Not only
do circumstances conceal it from us and show it to
us time about,but they even exaggerate or dimin-
ish it. We must consider ourselves as variable
quantities whose productive capacity may in favour-
able circumstances reach the greatest possible
heights: we must therefore reflect upon these cir-
cumstances, and spare no pains in studying them.
327-
A FAbLE. —The Don Juan of knowledge—no
philosopher or poet has yet succeeded in discover-
ing him. He is wanting in love for the things he
recognises, but he possesses wit, a lust for the hunt-
ing after knowledge, and the intrigues in connection
with it, and he finds enjoyment in all these, even up
to the highest and most distant stars of knowledge
—until at last there is nothing left for him to
pursue but the absolutely injurious side of know-
ledge, just as the drunkard who ends by drinking
absinthe and aquafortis. That is why last of all
he feels a longing for hell, for this is the final
knowledge which seduces him. Perhaps even this
would disappoint him, as all things do which one
knows! and then he would have to stand still for
all eternity, a victim to eternal deception, and trans-
formed into his enemy, the Stony Guest, who longs
for an evening meal of knowledge which will never
more fall to his share! for the whole world of things
## p. 277 (#369) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 277
will not have another mouthful left to offer to these
hungry men.
328.
What Idealistic Theories Disclose. —We
are most certain to find idealistic theories among
unscrupulously practical men; for such men stand
in need of the lustre of these theories for the sake
of their reputation. They adopt them instinctively
without by any means feeling hypocritical in doing
so—no more hypocritical than Englishmen with
their Christianity and their Sabbath-keeping. On
the other hand, contemplative natures who have to
keep themselves on their guard against all kinds
of fantasies and who dread to be reputed as
enthusiasts, are only to be satisfied with hard
realistic theories: they take possession of them
under the same instinctive compulsion without
thereby losing their honesty.
329-
The Calumniators of Cheerfulness. —
People who have been deeply wounded by the dis-
appointments of life look with suspicion upon all
cheerfulness as if it were something childish and
puerile, and revealed a lack of common sense that
moves them to pity and tenderness, such as one
would experience when seeing a dying child caress-
ing his toys on his death-bed. Such men appear to
see hidden graves under every rose; rejoicings,
tumult, and cheerful music appear to them to be the
voluntary illusions of a man who is dangerously ill
## p. 278 (#370) ############################################
278 THE DAWN OF DAY.
and yet wishes to take a momentary draught from
the intoxicating cup of life. But this judgment about
cheerfulness is merely the reflection of the latter on
the dark background of weariness and ill-health: in
itself it is something touching, irrational, and piti-
able, even childlike and puerile, but connected with
that second childhood which follows in the train of
old age, and is the harbinger of death.
330.
Not yet Enough ! — It is not sufficient to
prove a case, we must also tempt or raise men to
it: hence the wise man must learn to convey his
wisdom; and often in such a manner that it may
sound like foolishness!
33i-
Right and Limits. —Asceticism is the proper
mode of thinking for those who must extirpate
their carnal instincts, because these are ferocious
beasts,—but only for such people!
332.
The Bombastic Style. —An artist who does
not wish to put his elevated feelings into a work
and thus unburden himself, but who rather wishes
to impart these feelings of elevation to others, be-
comes pompous, and his style becomes the bom-
bastic style.
## p. 279 (#371) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY.
279
333.
“HUMANITY. ”—We do not consider animals as
moral beings. But do you think that animals
consider us as moral beings ? An animal which
had the power of speech once said: “ Humanity is
a prejudice from which we animals at least do not
suffer. "
334.
THE CHARITABLE MAN. The charitable man
gratifies a need of his own inward feelings when
doing good. The stronger this need is the less
does such a man try to put himself in the place
of those who serve the purpose of gratifying his
desire: he becomes indelicate and sometimes even
offensive. (This remark applies to the benevolence
and charity of the Jews, which, as is well known,
is somewhat more effusive than that of other
peoples. )*
335.
THAT LOVE MAY BE FELT AS LOVE. -We
must be honest towards ourselves, and must know
ourselves very well indeed, to be able to practise
upon others that humane dissimulation known as
love and kindness.
336.
WHAT ARE WE CAPABLE OF ? -A man who had
been tormented all day by his wicked and malicious
* The German Jews are well known for their charity, by
means of which they probably wish to prove that they are not
so bad as the Anti-Semites paint them. -TR.
## p. 280 (#372) ############################################
280 THE DAWN OF DAY.
son slew him in the evening, and then with a sigh
of relief said to the other members of his family:
"Well now we can sleep in peace. " Who knows
what circumstances might drive us to!
337-
"Natural. "—To be natural, at least in his
deficiencies, is perhaps the last praise that can be
bestowed upon an artificial artist, who is in other
respects theatrical and half genuine. Such a man will
for this very reason boldly parade his deficiencies.
338.
Conscience-Substitute. —One man is an-
other's conscience: and this is especially important
when the other has none else.
339-
The Transformation of Duties. —When
our duties cease to be difficult of accomplishment,
and after long practice become changed into agree-
able delights and needs, then the rights of others
to whom our duties (though now our inclinations)
refer change into something else: that is, they
become the occasion of pleasant feelings for us.
Henceforth the "other," by virtue of his rights,
becomes an object of love to us instead of an object
of reverence and awe as formerly. It is our own
pleasure we seek when we recognise and main-
tain the extent of his power. When the Quietists
## p. 281 (#373) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 281
no longer felt their Christian faith as a burden, and
experienced their delight only in God, they took the
motto: "Do all to the glory of God. " Whatever
they performed henceforth in this sense was no
longer a sacrifice, it was as much as to say," Every-
thing for the sake of our pleasure. " To demand that
duty should be always rather burdensome, as Kant
does, is to demand that it shall never develop into
a habit or custom. There is a small residue of
ascetic cruelty in this demand.
340.
Appearances are against the Historian.
—It is a sufficiently demonstrated fact that human
beings come from the womb; nevertheless when
children grow up and stand by the side of their
mother this hypothesis appears very absurd—all
appearances are against it.
341-
The Advantage of Ignorance. —Some one
has said that in his childhood he experienced such
a contempt for the caprices and whims of a melan-
choly temperament that, until he had grown up
and had become a middle-aged man, he did not
know what his own temperament was like: it was
precisely a melancholy temperament. He declared
that this was the best of all possible kinds of
ignorance.
342.
Do NOT bE deceived ! —Yes, he examined the
matter from every side and you think him to be a
## p. 282 (#374) ############################################
282 THE DAWN OF DAY.
man of profound knowledge. But he only wishes
to lower the price—he wants to buy it!
343-
A Moral Pretence. —You refuse to be dis-
satisfied with yourselves or to suffer from yourselves,
and this you call your moral tendency! Very well;
another may perhaps call it your cowardice! One
thing, however, is certain, and that is that you will
never take a trip round the world (and you your-
selves are this world), and you will always remain
in yourselves an accident and a clod on the face
of the earth! Do you fancy that we who hold
different views from you are merely exposing our-
selves out of pure folly to the journey through our
own deserts, swamps, and glaciers, and that we are
voluntarily choosing grief and disgust with our-
selves, like the Stylites?
344-
Subtlety in Mistakes. —If Homer, as they
say, sometimes nodded, he was wiser than all the
artists of sleepless ambition. We must allow
admirers to stop for a time and take breath by
letting them find fault now and then; for nobody
can bear an uninterruptedly brilliant and untiring
excellence—and instead of doing good such a
master would merely become a taskmaster, whom
we hate while he precedes us.
345-
Our Happiness is not an Argument
either Pro OR Con. —Many men are only cap-
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THE DAWN OF DAY. 283
able of a small share of happiness: and it is not an
argument against their wisdom if this wisdom is
unable to afford them a greater degree of happiness,
any more than it is an argument against medical
skill that many people are incurable, and others
always ailing. May every one have the good fortune
to discover the conception of existence which will
enable him to realise his greatest share of happiness!
though this will not necessarily prevent his life from
being miserable and not worth envying.
346.
The Enemies of Women. —" Woman is our
enemy "—the man who speaks to men in this way
exhibits an unbridled lust which not only hates
itself but also its means.
347-
The School of the Orator. —When a man
has kept silence for a whole year he learns to stop
chattering, and to discourse instead. The Pytha-
goreans were the best statesmen of their age.
348.
The Feeling of Power. —Note the dis-
tinction: the man who wishes to acquire the feel-
ing of power seizes upon any means, and looks upon
nothing as too petty which can foster this feeling.
He who already possesses power, however, has
grown fastidious and refined in his tastes; few
things can be found to satisfy him.
## p. 284 (#376) ############################################
284 THE DAWN OF DAY.
349-
Not so very Important. —When we are
present at a death-bed there regularly arises in us
a thought that we immediately suppress from a
false sense of propriety: the thought that the act
of dying is less important than the customary
veneration of it would wish us to believe, and that
the dying man has probably lost in his life things
which were more important than he is now about to
lose by his death. In this case the end is certainly
not the goal.
350.
The best way to Promise. — When a man
makes a promise it is not merely the word that
promises, but what lies unexpressed behind the
word. Words indeed weaken a promise by dis-
charging and using up a power which forms part of
that power which promises. Therefore shake hands
when making a promise, but put your finger on
your lips—in this way you will make the safest
promises.
35 1-
Generally Misunderstood. —In conversa-
tion we sometimes observe people endeavouring
to set a trap in which to catch others—not out of
evil-mindedness, as one might suppose, but from
delight in their own shrewdness. Others again
prepare a joke so that some one else may utter it,
they tie the knot so that others may undo it: not
## p. 285 (#377) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 285
out of goodwill, as might be supposed, but from
wickedness, and their contempt for coarse intellects.
352.
Centre. —The feeling, " I am the centre of the
world," forcibly comes to us when we are unex-
pectedly overtaken by disgrace: we then feel as if
we were standing dazed in the midst of a surge, and
dazzled by the glance of one enormous eye which
gazes down upon us from all sides and looks us
through and through.
353-
Freedom of Speech. —"The truth must be
told, even if the world should be shivered in
fragments"—so cries the eminent and grandilo-
quent Fichte. —Yes, certainly; but we must have it
first. —What he really means, however, is that each
man should speak his mind, even if everything were
to be turned upside down. This point, however, is
open to dispute.
354-
The Courage for Suffering. —Such as we
now are, we are capable of bearing a tolerable
amount of displeasure, and our stomach is suited
to such indigestible food. If we were deprived
of it, indeed, we should perhaps think the banquet
of life insipid; and if it were not for our willing-
ness to suffer pain we should have to let too many
pleasures escape us!
## p. 286 (#378) ############################################
286 THE DAWN OF DAY.
355-
Admirers. —The man who admires up to the
point that he would be ready to crucify any one
who did not admire, must be reckoned among the
executioners of his party—beware of shaking hands
with him, even when he belongs to your own side.
356-
The Effect of Happiness. —The first effect of
happiness is the feeling of power, and this feeling
longs to manifest itself, whether towards our-
selves or other men, or towards ideas and imaginary
beings. Its most common modes of manifesta-
tion are making presents, derision, and destruction
—all three being due to a common fundamental
instinct.
357-
MORAL Mosquitoes. —Those moralists who are
lacking in the love of knowledge, and who are only
acquainted with the pleasure of giving pain, have
the spirit and tediousness of provincials. Their
pastime, as cruel as it is lamentable, is to observe
their neighbour with the greatest possible closeness,
and, unperceived, to place a pin in such position
that he cannot help pricking himself with it. Such
men have preserved something of the wickedness
of schoolboys, who cannot amuse themselves with-
out hunting and torturing either the living or the
dead.
## p. 287 (#379) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 287
358,
Reasons and their Unreason. —You feel a
dislike for him, and adduce innumerable reasons for
this dislike, but I only believe in your dislike and
not in your reasons! You flatter yourself by ad-
ducing as a rational conclusion, both to yourself and
to me, that which happens to be merely a matter
of instinct.
359-
Approving of Something. —We approve oi
marriage in the first place because we are not yet
acquainted with it, in the second place because
we have accustomed ourselves to it, and in the
third place because we have contracted it—that is
to say, in most cases. And yet nothing has been
proved thereby in favour of the value of marriage
in general.
360.
No Utilitarians. —" Power which has greatly
suffered both in deed and in thought is better than
powerlessness which only meets with kind treat-
ment "—such was the Greek way of thinking. In
other words, the feeling of power was prized more
highly by them than any mere utility or fair re-
nown.
361.
Ugly in Appearance. —Moderation appears
to itself to be quite beautiful: it is unaware of the
fact that in the eyes of the immoderate it seems
coarse and insipid, and consequently ugly.
## p. 288 (#380) ############################################
288 THE DAWN OF DAY.
362.
Different in their Hatred. —There are
men who do not begin to hate until they feel weak
and tired: in other respects they are fair-minded
and superior. Others only begin to hate when they
see an opportunity for revenge: in other respects
they carefully avoid both secret and open wrath,
and overlook it whenever there is any occasion
for it.
363-
MEN OFCHANCE. —It is pure hazard which plays
the essential part in every invention, but most men
do not meet with this hazard.
3<54.
Choice of Environment. —We should beware
of livingin an environment where we areneither able
to maintain a dignified silence nor to express our lof-
tier thoughts, so that only our complaints and needs
and the whole story of our misery are left to be told.
We thus become dissatisfied with ourselves and with
our surroundings, and to the discomfort which brings
about our complaints we add the vexation which
we feel at always being in the position of grumb-
lers. But we should, on the contrary, live in a place
where we should be ashamed to speak of ourselves
and where it would not be necessary to do so. —
Who, however, thinks of such things, or of the choice
in such things? We talk about our " fate," brace
up our shoulders, and sigh, "Unfortunate Atlas that
lam! "
## p. 289 (#381) ############################################
THE DAWN OF DAY. 289
36S.
Vanity. —Vanity is the dread of appearing to be
original. Hence it is a lack of pride, but not nec-
essarily a lack of originality.
366.
The Criminal's Grief. —The criminal who
has been found out does not suffer because of the
crime he has committed, but because of the shame
and annoyance caused him either by some blunder
which he has made or by being deprived of his
habitual element; and keen discernment is neces-
sary to distinguish such cases. Every one who has
had much experience of prisons and reformatories is
astonished at the rare instances of really genuine
"remorse," and still more so at the longing shown
to return to the old wicked and beloved crime.
367-
Always appearing Happy. —When, in the
Greece of the third century, philosophy had become
a matter of public emulation, there were not a
few philosophers who became happy through the
thought that others who lived according to differ-
ent principles, and suffered from them, could not
but feel envious of their happiness.
