No More Learning

262.
DEPTH AND TROUBLED WATERS. —The public
easily confounds him who fishes in troubled waters
with him who pumps up from the depths.
263.
DEMONSTRATING ONE'S VANITY TO FRIEND
AND FOE. —Many a man, from vanity, maltreats


## p. 134 (#156) ############################################

134 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
even his friends, when in the presence of witnesses
to whom he wishes to make his own preponderance
clear. Others exaggerate the merits of their enemies,
in order to point proudly to the fact that they are
worthy of such foes.
264.
COOLINg Off. —The over-heating of the heart is
generally allied with illness of the head and judg-
ment. He who is concerned for a time with the
health of his head must know what he has to cool,
careless of the future of his heart. For if we are
capable at all of giving warmth, we are sure to
become warm again and then have our summer.
265.
Mingled Feelings. —Towards science women
and self-seeking artists entertain a feeling that is
composed of envy and sentimentality.
266.
Where Danger is Greatest. —We seldom
break our leg so long as life continues a toilsome
upward climb. The danger comes when we begin
to take things easily and choose the convenient
paths.
267.
Not TOO Early. —We must beware of becoming
sharp too early, or we shall also become thin too
early.
268.
Joy in Refractoriness. — The good teacher
knows cases where he is proud that his pupil re-


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MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 135
mains true to himself in opposition to him—at
times when the youth must not understand the man
or would be harmed by understanding him.
269.
The Experiment of Honesty. —Young men,
who wish to be more honest than they have been,
seek as victim some one acknowledged to be honest,
attacking him first with an attempt to reach his
height by abuse—with the underlying notion that
this first experiment at any rate is void of danger.
For just such a one has no right to chastise the
impudence of the honest man.
270.
The Eternal Child. —We think, short-sighted
that we are, that fairy-tales and games belong to
childhood. As if at any age we should care to live
without fairy-tales and games! Our words and
sentiments are indeed different, but the essential
fact remains the same, as is proved by the child
himself looking on games as his work and fairy-
tales as his truth. The shortness of life ought to
preserve us from a pedantic distinction between the
different ages^-as if every age brought something
new—and a poet ought one day to portray a man
of two hundred, who really lives without fairy-tales
and games.
271.
Every Philosophy is the Philosophy of a
Period of Life. —The period of life in which a
philosopher finds his teaching is manifested by his


## p. 136 (#158) ############################################

136
HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
teaching; he cannot avoid that, however elevated
above time and hour he may feel himself. Thus,
Schopenhauer's philosophy remains a mirror of his
hot and melancholy youth—it is no mode of thought
for older men. Plato's philosophy reminds one of
the middle thirties, when a warm and a cold current
generally rush together, so that spray and delicate
clouds and, under favourable circumstances and
glimpses of sunshine, enchanting rainbow-pictures
result.
272.
OF THE INTELLECT OF WOMEN. —The intel-
lectual strength of a woman is best proved by the
fact that she offers her own intellect as a sacrifice
out of love for a man and his intellect, and that
nevertheless in the new domain, which was previously
foreign to her nature, a second intellect at once
arises as an aftergrowth, to which the man's mind
impels her.
273.
RAISING AND LOWERING IN THE SEXUAL
DOMAIN. — The storm of desire will sometimes
carry a man up to a height where all desire is
silenced, where he really loves and lives in a better
state of being rather than in a better state of choice.
On the other hand, a good woman, from true love,
often climbs down to desire, and lowers herself in
her own eyes. The latter action in particular is one
of the most pathetic sensations which the idea of a
good marriage can involve.


## p. 137 (#159) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 137
274.
Man Promises, Woman Fulfils. —By woman
Nature shows how far she has hitherto achieved her
task of fashioning humanity, by man she shows
what she has had to overcome and what she still
proposes to do for humanity. —The most perfect
woman of every age is the holiday-task of the
Creator on every seventh day of culture, the re-
creation of the artist from his work.
275.
Transplanting. —If we have spent our intellect
in order to gain mastery over the intemperance of
the passions, the sad result often follows that we
transfer the intemperance to the intellect, and from
that time forth are extravagant in thought and desire
of knowledge.
276.
Laughter as Treachery. —How and when a
woman laughs is a sign of her culture, but in the ring
of laughter her nature reveals itself, and in highly
cultured women perhaps even the last insoluble
residue of their nature. Hence the psychologist
will say with Horace, though from different reasons:
"Ridete puellae. "
277.
From the Youthful Soul. —Youths varyingly
show devotion and impudence towards the same
person, because at bottom they only despise or ad-
mire themselves in that other person, and between


## p. 138 (#160) ############################################

138 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
the two feelings but stagger to and fro in them-
selves, so long as they have not found in experience
the measure of their will and ability.
278.
For the Amelioration of the World. —If
we forbade the discontented, the sullen, and the
atrabilious to propagate, we might transform the
world into a garden of happiness. —This aphorism
belongs to a practical philosophy for the female sex.
279.
Not to Distrust your Emotions. — The
feminine phrase "Do not distrust your emotions"
does not mean much more than "Eat what tastes
good to you. " This may also, especially for moder-
ate natures, be a good everyday rule. But other
natures must live according to another maxim:
"You must eat not only with your mouth but also
with your brain, in order that the greediness of
your mouth may not prove your undoing. "
280.
A Cruel Fancy of Love. —Every great love
involves the cruel thought of killing the object of
love, so that it may be removed once for all from
the mischievous play of change. For love is more
afraid of change than of destruction.
281.
DOORS. —In everything that is learnt or experi-
enced, the child, just like the man, sees doors;


## p. 139 (#161) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 139
but for the former they are places to go to, for the
latter to go through.
282.
Sympathetic Women. — The sympathy of
women, which is talkative, takes the sick-bed to
market.
283.
Early Merit. —He who acquires merit early in
life tends to forget all reverence for age and old
people, and accordingly, greatly to his disadvantage,
excludes himself from the society of the mature,
those who confer maturity. Thus in spite of his
early merit he remains green, importunate, and
boyish longer than others.
284.
Souls All of a Piece. —Women and artists
think that where we do not contradict them we can-
not. Reverence on ten counts and silent disap-
proval on ten others appears to them an impossible
combination, because their souls are all of a piece.
285.
Young Talents. —With respect to young talents
we must strictly follow Goethe's maxim, that we
should often avoid harming error in order to avoid
harming truth. Their condition is like the diseases
of pregnancy, and involves strange appetites. These
appetites should be satisfied and humoured as far
as possible, for the sake of the fruit they may be ex-
pected to produce. It is true that, as nurse of these


## p. 139 (#162) ############################################

138
HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
the two feelings but stagger to and fro in them-
selves, so long as they have not found in experience
the measure of their will and ability.
278.
FOR THE AMELIORATION OF THE WORLD. -If
we forbade the discontented, the sullen, and the
atrabilious to propagate, we might transform the
world into a garden of happiness. —This aphorism
belongs to a practical philosophy for the female sex.
279.
NOT TO DISTRUST YOUR EMOTIONS. — The
feminine phrase "Do not distrust your emotions”
does not mean much more than “Eat what tastes
good to you. " This may also, especially for moder-
ate natures, be a good everyday rule. But other
natures must live according to another maxim :
“You must eat not only with your mouth but also
with your brain, in order that the greediness of
your mouth may not prove your undoing. ”
280.
A CRUEL FANCY OF LOVE. —Every great love
involves the cruel thought of killing the object of
love, so that it may be removed once for all from
the mischievous play of change. For love is more
afraid of change than of destruction.
281.
DOORS. -In everything that is learnt or experi-
enced, the child, just like the man, sees doors;


## p. 139 (#163) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 139
but for the former they are places to go to, for the
latter to go through.
282.
SYMPATHETIC WOMEN. — The sympathy of
women, which is talkative, takes the sick-bed to
market.
283.
EARLY MERIT. —He who acquires merit early in
life tends to forget all reverence for age and old
people, and accordingly, greatly to his disadvantage,
excludes himself from the society of the mature,
those who confer maturity. Thus in spite of his
early merit he remains green, importunate, and
boyish longer than others.
284.
SOULS ALL OF A PIECE. —Women and artists
think that where we do not contradict them we can-
not. Reverence on ten counts and silent disap-
proval on ten others appears to them an impossible
combination, because their souls are all of a piece.
285.
YOUNG TALENTS. —With respect to young talents
we must strictly follow Goethe's maxim, that we
should often avoid harming error in order to avoid
harming truth. Their condition is like the diseases
of pregnancy, and involves strange appetites. These
appetites should be satisfied and humoured as far
as possible, for the sake of the fruit they may be ex-
pected to produce. It is true that, as nurse of these


## p. 140 (#164) ############################################

140 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
remarkable invalids, one must learn the difficult
art of voluntary self-abasement.
286.
Disgust with Truth. —Women are so consti-
tuted that all truth (in relation to men, love, child-
ren, society, aim of life) disgusts them—and that
they try to be revenged on every one who opens
their eyes.
287.
The Source of Great Love. —Whence arises
the sudden passion of a man for a woman, a passion
so deep, so vital? Least of all from sensuality only:
but when a man finds weakness, need of help, and
high spirits united in the same creature, he suffers
a sort of overflowing of soul, and is touched and
offended at the same moment. At this point arises
the source of great love.
288.
CLEANLINESS. —In the child, the sense for clean-
liness should be fanned into a passion, and then
later on he will raise himself, in ever new phases,
to almost every virtue, and will finally appear, in
compensation for all talent, as a shining cloud of
purity, temperance, gentleness, and character, happy
in himself and spreading happiness around.
289.
Of Vain Old Men. —Profundity of thought
belongs to youth, clarity of thought to old age.


## p. 141 (#165) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 141
When, in spite of this, old men sometimes speak
and write in the manner of the profound, they do so
from vanity, imagining that they thereby assume
the charm of juvenility, enthusiasm, growth, appre-
hensiveness, hopefulness.
290.
Enjoyment of Novelty. —Men use a new lesson
or experience later on as a ploughshare or perhaps
also as a weapon, women at once make it into an
ornament.
291.
How both Sexes behave when in the Right.
—If it is conceded to a woman that she is right,
she cannot deny herself the triumph of setting her
heel on the neck of the vanquished; she must taste
her victory to the full. On the other hand, man
towards man in such a case is ashamed of being
right. But then man is accustomed to victory ; with
woman it is an exception.
292.
Abnegation in the Will to Beauty. —In
order to become beautiful, a woman must not desire
to be considered pretty. That is to say, in ninety-
nine out of a hundred cases where she could please
she must scorn and put aside all thoughts of pleas-
ing. Only then can she ever reap the delight of
him whose soul's portal is wide enough to admit
the great.
293.
Unintelligible, Unendurable. — A youth
cannot understand that an old man has also had


## p. 142 (#166) ############################################

142 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
his delights, his dawns of feeling, his changings and
soarings of thought. It offends him to think that
such things have existed before. But it makes him
very bitter to hear that, to become fruitful, he must
lose those buds and dispense with their fragrance.
294.
The Party with the Air of Martyrdom. —
Every party that can assume an air of martyrdom
wins good-natured souls over to its side and thereby
itself acquires an air of good nature—greatly to its
advantage.
295.
Assertions surer than Arguments. —An
assertion has, with the majority of men at any
rate, more effect than an argument, for arguments
provoke mistrust. Hence demagogues seek to
strengthen the arguments of their party by asser-
tions.
296.
The Best Concealers. —All regularly success-
ful men are profoundly cunning in making their
faults and weaknesses look like manifestations of
strength. This proves that they must know their
defects uncommonly well.
297.
From Time to Time. —He sat in the city gate-
way and said to one who passed through that this
was the city gate. The latter replied that this was
true, but that one must not be too much in the


## p. 143 (#167) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 143
right if one expected to be thanked for it.
"Oh,"
answered the other, " I don't want thanks, but from
time to time it is very pleasant not merely to be in
the right but to remain in the right. "
298.
VlRTUEWASNOT INVENTED By THE GERMANS.
—Goethe's nobleness and freedom from envy, Bee-
thoven's fine hermitical resignation, Mozart's cheer-
fulness and grace of heart, Handel's unbending
manliness and freedom under the law, Bach's con-
fident and luminous inner life, such as does not
even need to renounce glamour and success—are
these qualities peculiarly German ? —If they are not,
they at least prove to what goal Germans should
strive and to what they can attain.
299.
Pia Fraus or Something Else. —I hope I am
mistaken, but I think that in Germany of to-day a
twofold sort of hypocrisy is set up as the duty of the
moment for every one. From imperial-political mis-
givings Germanism is demanded, and from social
apprehensions Christianity—but both only in words
and gestures, and particularly in ability to keep silent.
It is the veneer that nowadays costs so much and is
paid for so highly; and for the benefit of the spec-
tators the face of the nation assumes German and
Christian wrinkles.
300.
HOW FAR EVEN IN THE GOOD THE HALF MAY
be More than the Whole. —In all things that


## p. 144 (#168) ############################################

144 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
are constructed to last and demand the service of
many hands, much that is less good must be made
a rule, although the organiser knows what is better
and harder very well. He will calculate that there
will never be a lack of persons who can correspond
to the rule, and he knows that the middling good is
the rule. —The youth seldom sees this point, and as
an innovator thinks how marvellously he is in the
right and how strange is the blindness of others.
301.
The Partisan. —The true partisan learns no-
thing more, he only experiences and judges. It is
significant that Solon, who was never a partisan but
pursued his aims above and apart from parties or
even against them, was the father of that simple
phrase wherein lies the secret of the health and
vitality of Athens: "I grow old, but I am always
learning. "
302.
What is German according to Goethe. —
They are really intolerable people of whom one
cannot even accept the good, who have freedom of
disposition but do not remark that they are lacking
in freedom of taste and spirit. Yet just this, accord-
ingto Goethe's well-weighed judgment, is German. —
His voice and his example indicate that the German
should be more than a German if he wishes to be
useful or even endurable to other nations—and
which direction his striving should take, in order
that he may rise above and beyond himself.


## p. 145 (#169) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 145
303-
When it is Necessary to Remain Station-
ary. —When the masses begin to rage, and reason
is under a cloud, it is a good thing, if the health of
one's soul is not quite assured, to go under a door-
way and look out to see what the weather is like.
304-
The Revolution-Spirit and the Posses- .
SION-SPIRIt. —The only remedy against Socialism ? s~^\^XMJ
that still lies in your power is to avoid provoking
Socialism—in other words, to live in moderation and
contentment, to prevent as far as possible all lavish
display, and to aid the State as far as possible in its
taxing of all superfluities and luxuries. You do not
like this remedy? Then, you rich bourgeois who
call yourselves "Liberals," confess that it is your own
inclination that you find so terrible and menacing
in Socialists, but allow to prevail in yourselves as
unavoidable, as if with you it were something
different. As you are constituted, if you had not
your fortune and the cares of maintaining it, this
bent of yours would make Socialists of you. Pos-
session alone differentiates you from them. If you'
wish to conquer the assailants of your prosperity,
you must first conquer yourselves. —And if that
prosperity only meant well-being, it would not be
so external and provocative of envy; it would be
more generous, more benevolent, more compensatory,
more helpful. But the spurious, histrionic element in
your pleasures, which lie more in the feeling of con-
trast (because others have them not, and feel envious)
VOl. II. K


## p. 146 (#170) ############################################

146 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
than in feelings of realised and heightened power—
your houses, dresses, carriages, shops, the demands
of your palates and your tables, your noisy operatic
and musical enthusiasm ; lastly your women, formed
and fashioned but of base metal, gilded but with-
out the ring of gold, chosen by you for show and
considering themselves meant for show—these are
the things that spread the poison of that national
disease, which seizes the masses ever more and more
as a Socialistic heart-itch, but has its origin and
breeding-place in you. Who shall now arrest this
epidemic?
305-
PARTy TACTICS. —When a party observes that a
previous member has changed from an unqualified
to a qualified adherent, it endures it so ill that
it irritates and mortifies him in every possible way
with the object of forcing him to a decisive break
and making him an opponent. For the party sus-
pects that the intention of finding a relative value
in its faith, a value which admits of pro and con, of
weighing and discarding, is more dangerous than
downright opposition.
306.
For the Strengthening of Parties. —Who-
ever wishes to strengthen a party internally should
give it an opportunity of being forcibly treated
with obvious injustice. The party thus acquires a
capital of good conscience, which hitherto it perhaps
lacked.


## p. 147 (#171) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 147
307.
To Provide for One's Past. —As men after
all only respect the old-established and slowly
developed, he who would survive after his death
must not only provide for posterity but still more
for the past. Hence tyrants of every sort (including
tyrannical artists and politicians) like to do violence
to history, so that history may seem a preparation
and a ladder up to them.
308.
Party Writers. —The beating of drums, which
delights young writers who serve a party, sounds
to him who does not belong to the party like a
rattling of chains, and excites sympathy rather than
admiration.
309-
Taking Sides against Ourselves. — Our
followers never forgive us for taking sides against
ourselves, for we seem in their eyes not only to be
spurning their love but to be exposing them to the
charge of lack of intelligence.
310.
Danger in Wealth. —Only a man of intellect
should hold property: otherwise property is danger-
ous to the community. For the owner, not knowing
how to make use of the leisure which his possessions
might secure to him, will continue to strive after
more property. This strife will be his occupation,
his strategy in the war with ennui. So in the end


## p. 148 (#172) ############################################

148 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
real wealth is produced from the moderate property
that would be enough for an intellectual man. Such
wealth, then, is the glittering outcrop of intellectual
dependence and poverty, but it looks quite different
from what its humble origin might lead one to expect,
because it can mask itself with culture and art—it
can, in fact, purchase the mask. Hence it excites
envy in the poor and uncultured—who at bottom
always envy culture and see no mask in the mask—
and gradually paves the way for a social revolution.
For a gilded coarseness and a histrionic blowing of
trumpets in the pretended enjoyment of culture
inspires that class with the thought, " It is only a
matter of money," whereas it is indeed to some ex-
tent a matter of money, but far more of intellect.
3ii-
Joy in Commanding and Obeying. —Com-
manding is a joy, like obeying; the former when it
has not yet become a habit, the latter just when it
has become a habit. Old servants under new
masters advance each other mutually in giving
pleasure.
312.
Ambition for a Forlorn Hope. —There is an
ambition for a forlorn hope which forces a party to
place itself at the post of extreme danger.
313.
When Asses are Needed. —We shall not move
the crowd to cry" Hosanna '. "until we have ridden
into the city upon an ass.


## p. 149 (#173) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 149
314-
PARTY USAgE. —Every party attempts to repre-
sent the important elements that have sprung up
outside it as unimportant, and if it does not succeed,
it attacks those elements the more bitterly, the more
excellent they are.
315.
Becoming Empty. —Of him who abandons him-
self to the course of events, a smaller and smaller
residue is continually left, Great politicians may
therefore become quite empty men, although they
were once full and rich.
Welcome Enemies. — The Socialistic move-
ments are nowadays becoming more and more
agreeable rather than terrifying to the dynastic
governments, because by these movements they are
provided with a right and a weapon for making ex-
ceptional rules, and can thus attack their real bogies,
democrats and anti-dynasts. —Towards all that such
governments professedly detest they feel a secret
cordiality and inclination. But they are compelled
to draw the veil over their soul.
317.
Possession Possesses. —Only up to a certain
point does possession make men feel freer and more
independent; one step farther, and possession be-
comes lord, the possessor a slave. The latter must
J«-v *,! »*. '


## p. 150 (#174) ############################################

ISO HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
sacrifice his time, his thoughts to the former, and
feels himself compelled to an intercourse, nailed to
a spot, incorporated with the State—perhaps quite
in conflict with his real and essential needs.
318.
Of the Mastery of Them that Know. —It
is easy, ridiculously easy, to set up a model for the
choice of a legislative body. First of all the honest
and reliable men of the nation, who at the same
time are masters and experts in some one branch,
have to become prominent by mutual scenting-out
and recognition. From these, by a narrower process
of selection, the learned and expert of the first rank
in each individual branch must again be chosen, also
by mutual recognition and guarantee. If the legis-
lative body be composed of these, it will finally be
necessary, in each individual case, that only the
voices and judgments of the most specialised ex-
perts should decide; the honesty of all the rest
should have become so great that it is simply a
matter of decency to leave the voting also in the
hands of these men. The result would be that
the law, in the strictest sense, would emanate from
the intelligence of the most intelligent. —As things
now are, voting is done by parties, and at every
division there must be hundreds of uneasy con-
sciences among the ill-taught, the incapable of judg-
ment, among those who merely repeat, imitate, and
go with the tide. Nothing lowers the dignity of
a new law so much as this inherent shamefaced
feeling of insincerity that necessarily results at every


## p. 151 (#175) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 151
party division. But, as has been said, it is easy,
ridiculously easy, to set up such a model: no power
on earth is at present strong enough to realise such
an ideal—unless the belief in the highest utility of
knowledge, and of those that know, at last dawns
even upon the most hostile minds and is preferred
to the prevalent belief in majorities. In the sense
of such a future may our watchword be: "More
reverence for them that know, and down with all
parties! "
319-
Of the " Nation of Thinkers" (or of Bad
Thinking). —The vague, vacillating, premonitory,
elementary, intuitive elements—to choose obscure
names for obscure things—that are attributed to the
German nature would be, if they really still existed,
a proof that our culture has remained several stages
behind and is still surrounded by the spell and
atmosphere of the Middle Ages. —It is true that in
this backwardness there are certain advantages: by
these qualities the Germans (if, as has been said
before, they still possess them) would possess the
capacity, which other nations have now lost, for
doing certain things and particularly for under-
standing certain things. Much undoubtedly is lost
if the lack of sense—which is just the common
factor in all those qualities—is lost. Here too, how-
ever, there are no losses without the highest com-
pensatory gains, so that no reason is left for
lamenting, granting that we do not, like children,
and gourmands, wish to enjoy at once the fruits of
all seasons of the year.


## p. 152 (#176) ############################################

152 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
320.
\^)^ Carrying Coals to Newcastle. —The govern-
ments of the great States have two instruments for
keeping the people dependent,in fear and obedience:
a coarser, the army, and a more refined, the school.
With the aid of the former they win over to their
side the ambition of the higher strata and the
strength of the lower, so far as both are character-
istic of active and energetic men of moderate or
inferior gifts. With the aid of the latter they win
over gifted poverty, especially the intellectually pre-
tentious semi-poverty of the middle classes. Above
all, they make teachers of all grades into an intel-
lectual court looking unconsciously "towards the
heights. " By putting obstacle after obstacle in the
way of private schools and the wholly distasteful
individual tuition they secure the disposal of a
considerable number of educational posts, towards
which numerous hungry and submissive eyes are
turned to an extent five times as great as can ever
be satisfied. These posts, however, must support
the holder but meagrely, so that he maintains a
feverish thirst for promotion and becomes still more
closely attached to the views of the government.
For it is always more advantageous to foster
moderate discontent than contentment, the mother
of courage, the grandmother of free thought and
exuberance. By means of this physically and
mentally bridled body of teachers, the youth of the
country is as far as possible raised to a certain level
of culture that is useful to the State and arranged
on a suitable sliding-scale. Above all, the immature


## p. 153 (#177) ############################################

MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 153
and ambitious minds of all classes are almost imper-
ceptibly imbued with the idea that only a career
which is recognised and hall-marked by the State
can lead immediately to social distinction. The
effect of this belief in government examinations and
titles goes so far that even men who have remained
independent and have risen by trade or handicraft
still feel a pang of discontent in their hearts until
their position too is marked and acknowledged by a
gracious bestowal of rank and orders from above—
until one becomes a " somebody. " Finally the State
connects all these hundreds of offices and posts in its
hands with the obligation of being trained and hall-
marked in these State schools if one ever wishes to
enter this charmed circle. Honour in society, daily
bread, the possibility of a family, protection from
above, the feeling of community in a common
culture—all this forms a network of hopes into
which every young man walks: how should he feel
the slightest breath of mistrust? In the end, per-
haps, the obligation of being a soldier for one year
has become with every one, after the lapse of a few
generations, an unreflecting habit, an understood
thing, with an eye to which we construct the plan
of our lives quite early. Then the State can venture
on the master-stroke of weaving together school
and army, talent, ambition and strength by means
of common advantages—that is, by attracting the
more highly gifted on favourable terms to the army
and inspiring them with the military spirit of joyful
obedience; so that finally, perhaps, they become
attached permanently to the flag and endow it by
their talents with an ever new and more brilliant


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154 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
lustre. Then nothing more is wanted but an oppor-
tunity for great wars. These are provided from
professional reasons (and so in all innocence) by
diplomats, aided by newspapers and Stock Ex-
changes. For "the nation," as a nation of soldiers,
need never be supplied with a good conscience in
war—it has one already.
321.
The Press. —If we consider how even to-day all
great political transactions glide upon the stage
secretly and stealthily; how they are hidden by
unimportant events, and seem small when close at
hand; how they only show their far-reaching effect,
and leave the soil still quaking, long after they have
taken place;—what significance can we attach to
the Press in its present position, with its daily ex-
penditure of lung-power in order to bawl, to deafen,
to excite, to terrify? Is it anything more than an
everlasting false alarm, which tries to lead our ears
and our wits into a false direction?
322.
After a Great Event. —A nation and a man
whose soul has come to light through some great
event generally feel the immediate need of some
act of childishness or coarseness, as much from
shame as for purposes of recreation.
323-
To be a Good German means to de-Ger-
manise 20neself. — National differences consist,


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MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 155
far more than has hitherto been observed, only in
the differences of various grades of culture, and are
only to a very small extent permanent (nor even
that in a strict sense). For this reason all arguments
based on national character are so little binding on
one who aims at the alteration of convictions—in
other words, at culture. If, for instance, we consider
all that has already been German, we shall improve
upon the hypothetical question, "What is German? "
by the counter-question, " What is now German? "
and every good German will answer it practically,
by overcoming his German characteristics. For
when a nation advances and grows, it bursts the
girdle previously given to it by its national outlook.
When it remains stationary or declines, its soul is
surrounded by a fresh girdle, and the crust, as it
becomes harder and harder, builds a prison around,
with walls growing ever higher. Hence if a nation
has much that is firmly established, this is a sign
that it wishes to petrify and would like to become
nothing but a monument. This happened, from a
definite date, in the case of Egypt. So he who is
well-disposed towards the Germans may for his part
consider how he may more and more grow out of
what is German. The tendency to be un-German
has therefore always been a mark of efficient mem-
bers of our nation.
324-
FOREIgNISMS. —A foreigner who travelled in Ger-
many found favour or the reverse by certain asser-
tions of his, according to the districts in which he
stayed. All intelligent Suabians, he used to say,


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156 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
are coquettish. —The other Suabians still believed
that Uhland was a poet and Goethe immoral. —The
best about German novels now in vogue was that
one need not read them, for one knew already what
they contained. —The native of Berlin seemed more
good-humoured than the South German, for he was
all too fond of mocking, and so could endure
mockery himself, which the South German could
not. —The intellect of the Germans was kept down
by their beer and their newspapers: he recom-
mended them tea and pamphlets, of course as a
cure. —He advised us to contemplate the different
nations of worn-out Europe and see how well each
displayed some particular quality of old age, to the
delight of those who sit before the great spectacle:
how the French successfully represent the clever-
ness and amiability of old age, the English the
experience and reserve, the Italians the innocence
and candour. Can the other masks of old age be
wanting? Where is the proud old man, the dom-
ineering old man, the covetous old man ? —The
most dangerous region in Germany was Saxony and
Thuringia: nowhere else was there more mental
nimbleness, more knowledge of men, side by side
with freedom of thought; and all this was so
modestly veiled by the ugly dialect and the zealous
officiousness of the inhabitants that one hardly
noticed that one here had to deal with the intel-
lectual drill-sergeants of Germany, her teachers for
good or evil. —The arrogance of the North Germans
was kept in check by their tendency to obey, that
of the South Germans by their tendency—to make
themselves comfortable. —It appeared to him that


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MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS AND OPINIONS. 157
in their women German men possessed awkward
but self-opinionated housewives, who belauded
themselves so perseveringly that they had almost
persuaded the world, and at any rate their husbands,
of their peculiarly German housewifely virtue. —
When the conversation turned on Germany's home
and foreign policy, he used to say (he called it
"betray the secret") that Germany's greatest states-
man did not believe in great statesmen. —The future
of Germany he found menaced and menacing, for
Germans had forgotten how to enjoy themselves (an
art that the Italians understood so well), but, by the
great games of chance called wars and dynastic
revolutions, had accustomed themselves to emotion-
alism, and consequently would one day have an
Entente. For that is the strongest emotion that a
nation can procure for itself. —The German Socialist
was all the more dangerous because impelled by
no definite necessity: his trouble lay in not knowing
what he wanted; so, even if he attained many of
his objects, he would still pine away from desire
in the midst of delights, just like Faust, but pre-
sumably like a very vulgar Faust. "For the Faust-
Devil," he finally exclaimed, "by whom cultured
Germans were so much plagued, was exorcised by
Bismarck; but now the Devil has entered into the
swine,* and is worse than ever! "
325-
Opinions. —Most men are nothing and count
for nothing until they have arrayed themselves in
* Luke viii. 33. —Tr.


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158 HUMAN, ALL-TOO-HUMAN.
universal convictions and public opinions. This is
in accordance with the tailors' philosophy, "The
apparel makes the man. " Of exceptional men,
however, it must be said, "The wearer primarily
makes the apparel. " Here opinions cease to be
public, and become something else than masks,
ornament, and disguise.
326.