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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10732 ***
+
+THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER: STUDIES IN PESSIMISM
+
+TRANSLATED BY
+
+T. BAILEY SAUNDERS, M.A.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD
+  ON THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE
+  ON SUICIDE
+  IMMORTALITY: A DIALOGUE
+  PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
+  ON EDUCATION
+  OF WOMEN
+  ON NOISE
+  A FEW PARABLES
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+The Essays here presented form a further selection from Schopenhauer's
+_Parerga_, brought together under a title which is not to be found
+in the original, and does not claim to apply to every chapter in
+the volume. The first essay is, in the main, a rendering of the
+philosopher's remarks under the heading of _Nachträge zur Lehre vom
+Leiden der Welt_, together with certain parts of another section
+entitled _Nachträge zur Lehre von der Bejahung und Verneinung des
+Willens zum Leben_. Such omissions as I have made are directed chiefly
+by the desire to avoid repeating arguments already familiar to readers
+of the other volumes in this series. The _Dialogue on Immortality_
+sums up views expressed at length in the philosopher's chief work, and
+treated again in the _Parerga_. The _Psychological Observations_ in
+this and the previous volume practically exhaust the chapter of the
+original which bears this title.
+
+The essay on _Women_ must not be taken in jest. It expresses
+Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer
+of the faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question
+which is just now receiving a good deal of attention among us.
+
+T.B.S.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD.
+
+
+Unless _suffering_ is the direct and immediate object of life, our
+existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon
+the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and
+originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as
+serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate
+misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional;
+but misfortune in general is the rule.
+
+I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of
+philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is
+just what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is
+particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to
+strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism.[1]
+It is the good which is negative; in other words, happiness and
+satisfaction always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain
+brought to an end.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_, cf. _Thèod_, §153.--Leibnitz argued
+that evil is a negative quality--_i.e_., the absence of good; and that
+its active and seemingly positive character is an incidental and not
+an essential part of its nature. Cold, he said, is only the absence of
+the power of heat, and the active power of expansion in freezing water
+is an incidental and not an essential part of the nature of cold. The
+fact is, that the power of expansion in freezing water is really an
+increase of repulsion amongst its molecules; and Schopenhauer is quite
+right in calling the whole argument a sophism.]
+
+This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not
+nearly so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
+
+The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or,
+at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader
+wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare
+the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in
+eating the other.
+
+The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will
+be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than
+yourself; and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But
+what an awful fate this means for mankind as a whole!
+
+We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of
+the butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey.
+So it is that in our good days we are all unconscious of the evil Fate
+may have presently in store for us--sickness, poverty, mutilation,
+loss of sight or reason.
+
+No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is
+continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always
+coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time
+stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of
+boredom.
+
+But misfortune has its uses; for, as our bodily frame would burst
+asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere was removed, so, if the
+lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if
+everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen
+with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present
+the spectacle of unbridled folly--nay, they would go mad. And I may
+say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is
+necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is
+unstable and will not go straight.
+
+Certain it is that _work, worry, labor_ and _trouble_, form the lot of
+almost all men their whole life long. But if all wishes were fulfilled
+as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what would
+they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and
+ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained
+his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of
+boredom or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and
+murders; so that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on
+itself than it has now to accept at the hands of Nature.
+
+In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like
+children in a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there
+in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a
+blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we
+foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent
+prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all
+unconscious of what their sentence means. Nevertheless, every man
+desires to reach old age; in other words, a state of life of which it
+may be said: "It is bad to-day, and it will be worse to-morrow; and so
+on till the worst of all."
+
+If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery,
+pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course,
+you will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little
+as on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life;
+and if, here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.
+
+Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing
+the blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even though
+things have gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the more
+clearly you will feel that, on the whole, life is _a disappointment,
+nay, a cheat_.
+
+If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are
+old, after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling
+they will have at the sight of each other will be one of complete
+disappointment at life as a whole; because their thoughts will be
+carried back to that earlier time when life seemed so fair as it
+lay spread out before them in the rosy light of dawn, promised so
+much--and then performed so little. This feeling will so completely
+predominate over every other that they will not even consider it
+necessary to give it words; but on either side it will be silently
+assumed, and form the ground-work of all they have to talk about.
+
+He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits
+some time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the
+performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to
+be seen only once; and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to
+deceive, their effect is gone.
+
+While no man is much to be envied for his lot, there are countless
+numbers whose fate is to be deplored.
+
+Life is a task to be done. It is a fine thing to say _defunctus est_;
+it means that the man has done his task.
+
+If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason
+alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather
+have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the
+burden of existence? or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose
+that burden upon it in cold blood.
+
+I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless--because
+I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the
+Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers
+in peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to
+the lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham
+philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please,
+and you will get it. Your University professors are bound to preach
+optimism; and it is an easy and agreeable task to upset their
+theories.
+
+I have reminded the reader that every state of welfare, every feeling
+of satisfaction, is negative in its character; that is to say, it
+consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of
+existence. It follows, therefore, that the happiness of any given life
+is to be measured, not by its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to
+which it has been free from suffering--from positive evil. If this
+is the true standpoint, the lower animals appear to enjoy a happier
+destiny than man. Let us examine the matter a little more closely.
+
+However varied the forms that human happiness and misery may take,
+leading a man to seek the one and shun the other, the material basis
+of it all is bodily pleasure or bodily pain. This basis is very
+restricted: it is simply health, food, protection from wet and cold,
+the satisfaction of the sexual instinct; or else the absence of these
+things. Consequently, as far as real physical pleasure is concerned,
+the man is not better off than the brute, except in so far as the
+higher possibilities of his nervous system make him more sensitive to
+every kind of pleasure, but also, it must be remembered, to every kind
+of pain. But then compared with the brute, how much stronger are the
+passions aroused in him! what an immeasurable difference there is in
+the depth and vehemence of his emotions!--and yet, in the one case,
+as in the other, all to produce the same result in the end: namely,
+health, food, clothing, and so on.
+
+The chief source of all this passion is that thought for what is
+absent and future, which, with man, exercises such a powerful
+influence upon all he does. It is this that is the real origin of
+his cares, his hopes, his fears--emotions which affect him much
+more deeply than could ever be the case with those present joys
+and sufferings to which the brute is confined. In his powers of
+reflection, memory and foresight, man possesses, as it were, a machine
+for condensing and storing up his pleasures and his sorrows. But the
+brute has nothing of the kind; whenever it is in pain, it is as though
+it were suffering for the first time, even though the same thing
+should have previously happened to it times out of number. It has
+no power of summing up its feelings. Hence its careless and placid
+temper: how much it is to be envied! But in man reflection comes in,
+with all the emotions to which it gives rise; and taking up the same
+elements of pleasure and pain which are common to him and the brute,
+it develops his susceptibility to happiness and misery to such a
+degree that, at one moment the man is brought in an instant to a state
+of delight that may even prove fatal, at another to the depths of
+despair and suicide.
+
+If we carry our analysis a step farther, we shall find that, in order
+to increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number
+and pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much
+more difficult to satisfy than those of the brute. Hence luxury in all
+its forms; delicate food, the use of tobacco and opium, spirituous
+liquors, fine clothes, and the thousand and one things than he
+considers necessary to his existence.
+
+And above and beyond all this, there is a separate and peculiar source
+of pleasure, and consequently of pain, which man has established for
+himself, also as the result of using his powers of reflection; and
+this occupies him out of all proportion to its value, nay, almost more
+than all his other interests put together--I mean ambition and the
+feeling of honor and shame; in plain words, what he thinks about the
+opinion other people have of him. Taking a thousand forms, often very
+strange ones, this becomes the goal of almost all the efforts he makes
+that are not rooted in physical pleasure or pain. It is true that
+besides the sources of pleasure which he has in common with the
+brute, man has the pleasures of the mind as well. These admit of many
+gradations, from the most innocent trifling or the merest talk up to
+the highest intellectual achievements; but there is the accompanying
+boredom to be set against them on the side of suffering. Boredom is
+a form of suffering unknown to brutes, at any rate in their natural
+state; it is only the very cleverest of them who show faint traces
+of it when they are domesticated; whereas in the case of man it has
+become a downright scourge. The crowd of miserable wretches whose one
+aim in life is to fill their purses but never to put anything into
+their heads, offers a singular instance of this torment of boredom.
+Their wealth becomes a punishment by delivering them up to misery of
+having nothing to do; for, to escape it, they will rush about in all
+directions, traveling here, there and everywhere. No sooner do they
+arrive in a place than they are anxious to know what amusements it
+affords; just as though they were beggars asking where they could
+receive a dole! Of a truth, need and boredom are the two poles
+of human life. Finally, I may mention that as regards the sexual
+relation, a man is committed to a peculiar arrangement which drives
+him obstinately to choose one person. This feeling grows, now and
+then, into a more or less passionate love,[1] which is the source of
+little pleasure and much suffering.
+
+[Footnote 1: I have treated this subject at length in a special
+chapter of the second volume of my chief work.]
+
+It is, however, a wonderful thing that the mere addition of thought
+should serve to raise such a vast and lofty structure of human
+happiness and misery; resting, too, on the same narrow basis of joy
+and sorrow as man holds in common with the brute, and exposing him
+to such violent emotions, to so many storms of passion, so much
+convulsion of feeling, that what he has suffered stands written and
+may be read in the lines on his face. And yet, when all is told, he
+has been struggling ultimately for the very same things as the brute
+has attained, and with an incomparably smaller expenditure of passion
+and pain.
+
+But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in
+human life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of
+life are made much worse for man by the fact that death is something
+very real to him. The brute flies from death instinctively without
+really knowing what it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it
+in the way natural to a man, who has this prospect always before his
+eyes. So that even if only a few brutes die a natural death, and most
+of them live only just long enough to transmit their species, and
+then, if not earlier, become the prey of some other animal,--whilst
+man, on the other hand, manages to make so-called natural death the
+rule, to which, however, there are a good many exceptions,--the
+advantage is on the side of the brute, for the reason stated above.
+But the fact is that man attains the natural term of years just as
+seldom as the brute; because the unnatural way in which he lives, and
+the strain of work and emotion, lead to a degeneration of the race;
+and so his goal is not often reached.
+
+The brute is much more content with mere existence than man; the plant
+is wholly so; and man finds satisfaction in it just in proportion as
+he is dull and obtuse. Accordingly, the life of the brute carries less
+of sorrow with it, but also less of joy, when compared with the life
+of man; and while this may be traced, on the one side, to freedom from
+the torment of _care_ and _anxiety_, it is also due to the fact
+that _hope_, in any real sense, is unknown to the brute. It is thus
+deprived of any share in that which gives us the most and best of our
+joys and pleasures, the mental anticipation of a happy future, and the
+inspiriting play of phantasy, both of which we owe to our power of
+imagination. If the brute is free from care, it is also, in this
+sense, without hope; in either case, because its consciousness is
+limited to the present moment, to what it can actually see before
+it. The brute is an embodiment of present impulses, and hence what
+elements of fear and hope exist in its nature--and they do not go very
+far--arise only in relation to objects that lie before it and within
+reach of those impulses: whereas a man's range of vision embraces the
+whole of his life, and extends far into the past and future.
+
+Following upon this, there is one respect in which brutes show real
+wisdom when compared with us--I mean, their quiet, placid enjoyment of
+the present moment. The tranquillity of mind which this seems to give
+them often puts us to shame for the many times we allow our thoughts
+and our cares to make us restless and discontented. And, in fact,
+those pleasures of hope and anticipation which I have been mentioning
+are not to be had for nothing. The delight which a man has in hoping
+for and looking forward to some special satisfaction is a part of the
+real pleasure attaching to it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards
+deducted; for the more we look forward to anything, the less
+satisfaction we find in it when it comes. But the brute's enjoyment
+is not anticipated, and therefore, suffers no deduction; so that the
+actual pleasure of the moment comes to it whole and unimpaired. In the
+same way, too, evil presses upon the brute only with its own intrinsic
+weight; whereas with us the fear of its coming often makes its burden
+ten times more grievous.
+
+It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up
+entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight
+we take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified,
+and in some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that
+is free from trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and
+preoccupations, mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless
+creature, misuses this quality of the brute to be more content than we
+are with mere existence, and often works it to such an extent that he
+allows the brute absolutely nothing more than mere, bare life. The
+bird which was made so that it might rove over half of the world, he
+shuts up into the space of a cubic foot, there to die a slow death in
+longing and crying for freedom; for in a cage it does not sing for
+the pleasure of it. And when I see how man misuses the dog, his best
+friend; how he ties up this intelligent animal with a chain, I feel
+the deepest sympathy with the brute and burning indignation against
+its master.
+
+We shall see later that by taking a very high standpoint it is
+possible to justify the sufferings of mankind. But this justification
+cannot apply to animals, whose sufferings, while in a great measure
+brought about by men, are often considerable even apart from their
+agency.[1] And so we are forced to ask, Why and for what purpose does
+all this torment and agony exist? There is nothing here to give the
+will pause; it is not free to deny itself and so obtain redemption.
+There is only one consideration that may serve to explain the
+sufferings of animals. It is this: that the will to live, which
+underlies the whole world of phenomena, must, in their case satisfy
+its cravings by feeding upon itself. This it does by forming a
+gradation of phenomena, every one of which exists at the expense of
+another. I have shown, however, that the capacity for suffering is
+less in animals than in man. Any further explanation that may be given
+of their fate will be in the nature of hypothesis, if not actually
+mythical in its character; and I may leave the reader to speculate
+upon the matter for himself.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. _Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol. ii. p. 404.]
+
+_Brahma_ is said to have produced the world by a kind of fall or
+mistake; and in order to atone for his folly, he is bound to remain
+in it himself until he works out his redemption. As an account of the
+origin of things, that is admirable! According to the doctrines
+of _Buddhism_, the world came into being as the result of some
+inexplicable disturbance in the heavenly calm of Nirvana, that blessed
+state obtained by expiation, which had endured so long a time--the
+change taking place by a kind of fatality. This explanation must be
+understood as having at bottom some moral bearing; although it is
+illustrated by an exactly parallel theory in the domain of physical
+science, which places the origin of the sun in a primitive streak of
+mist, formed one knows not how. Subsequently, by a series of moral
+errors, the world became gradually worse and worse--true of the
+physical orders as well--until it assumed the dismal aspect it wears
+to-day. Excellent! The _Greeks_ looked upon the world and the gods as
+the work of an inscrutable necessity. A passable explanation: we may
+be content with it until we can get a better. Again, _Ormuzd_ and
+_Ahriman_ are rival powers, continually at war. That is not bad. But
+that a God like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and
+woe, out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should
+then have clapped his hands in praise of his own work, and declared
+everything to be very good--that will not do at all! In its
+explanation of the origin of the world, Judaism is inferior to any
+other form of religious doctrine professed by a civilized nation;
+and it is quite in keeping with this that it is the only one which
+presents no trace whatever of any belief in the immortality of the
+soul.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Parerga_, vol. i. pp. 139 _et seq_.]
+
+Even though Leibnitz' contention, that this is the best of all
+possible worlds, were correct, that would not justify God in having
+created it. For he is the Creator not of the world only, but of
+possibility itself; and, therefore, he ought to have so ordered
+possibility as that it would admit of something better.
+
+There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this
+world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and, at the
+same time, all-powerful Being; firstly, the misery which abounds in
+it everywhere; and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest
+product, man, who is a burlesque of what he should be. These things
+cannot be reconciled with any such belief. On the contrary, they are
+just the facts which support what I have been saying; they are our
+authority for viewing the world as the outcome of our own misdeeds,
+and therefore, as something that had better not have been. Whilst,
+under the former hypothesis, they amount to a bitter accusation
+against the Creator, and supply material for sarcasm; under the latter
+they form an indictment against our own nature, our own will, and
+teach us a lesson of humility. They lead us to see that, like the
+children of a libertine, we come into the world with the burden of sin
+upon us; and that it is only through having continually to atone for
+this sin that our existence is so miserable, and that its end is
+death.
+
+There is nothing more certain than the general truth that it is the
+grievous _sin of the world_ which has produced the grievous _suffering
+of the world_. I am not referring here to the physical connection
+between these two things lying in the realm of experience; my meaning
+is metaphysical. Accordingly, the sole thing that reconciles me to the
+Old Testament is the story of the Fall. In my eyes, it is the only
+metaphysical truth in that book, even though it appears in the form of
+an allegory. There seems to me no better explanation of our existence
+than that it is the result of some false step, some sin of which
+we are paying the penalty. I cannot refrain from recommending the
+thoughtful reader a popular, but at the same time, profound treatise
+on this subject by Claudius[1] which exhibits the essentially
+pessimistic spirit of Christianity. It is entitled: _Cursed is the
+ground for thy sake_.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--Matthias Claudius (1740-1815), a
+popular poet, and friend of Klopstock, Herder and Leasing. He edited
+the _Wandsbecker Bote_, in the fourth part of which appeared the
+treatise mentioned above. He generally wrote under the pseudonym of
+_Asmus_, and Schopenhauer often refers to him by this name.]
+
+Between the ethics of the Greeks and the ethics of the Hindoos, there
+is a glaring contrast. In the one case (with the exception, it must be
+confessed, of Plato), the object of ethics is to enable a man to lead
+a happy life; in the other, it is to free and redeem him from life
+altogether--as is directly stated in the very first words of the
+_Sankhya Karika_.
+
+Allied with this is the contrast between the Greek and the Christian
+idea of death. It is strikingly presented in a visible form on a fine
+antique sarcophagus in the gallery of Florence, which exhibits, in
+relief, the whole series of ceremonies attending a wedding in ancient
+times, from the formal offer to the evening when Hymen's torch lights
+the happy couple home. Compare with that the Christian coffin,
+draped in mournful black and surmounted with a crucifix! How much
+significance there is in these two ways of finding comfort in death.
+They are opposed to each other, but each is right. The one points to
+the _affirmation_ of the will to live, which remains sure of life for
+all time, however rapidly its forms may change. The other, in the
+symbol of suffering and death, points to the _denial_ of the will to
+live, to redemption from this world, the domain of death and devil.
+And in the question between the affirmation and the denial of the will
+to live, Christianity is in the last resort right.
+
+The contrast which the New Testament presents when compared with the
+Old, according to the ecclesiastical view of the matter, is just that
+existing between my ethical system and the moral philosophy of Europe.
+The Old Testament represents man as under the dominion of Law, in
+which, however, there is no redemption. The New Testament declares
+Law to have failed, frees man from its dominion,[1] and in its stead
+preaches the kingdom of grace, to be won by faith, love of neighbor
+and entire sacrifice of self. This is the path of redemption from the
+evil of the world. The spirit of the New Testament is undoubtedly
+asceticism, however your protestants and rationalists may twist it to
+suit their purpose. Asceticism is the denial of the will to live; and
+the transition from the Old Testament to the New, from the dominion
+of Law to that of Faith, from justification by works to redemption
+through the Mediator, from the domain of sin and death to eternal life
+in Christ, means, when taken in its real sense, the transition from
+the merely moral virtues to the denial of the will to live. My
+philosophy shows the metaphysical foundation of justice and the love
+of mankind, and points to the goal to which these virtues necessarily
+lead, if they are practised in perfection. At the same time it is
+candid in confessing that a man must turn his back upon the world, and
+that the denial of the will to live is the way of redemption. It is
+therefore really at one with the spirit of the New Testament, whilst
+all other systems are couched in the spirit of the Old; that is
+to say, theoretically as well as practically, their result is
+Judaism--mere despotic theism. In this sense, then, my doctrine might
+be called the only true Christian philosophy--however paradoxical a
+statement this may seem to people who take superficial views instead
+of penetrating to the heart of the matter.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. Romans vii; Galatians ii, iii.]
+
+If you want a safe compass to guide you through life, and to banish
+all doubt as to the right way of looking at it, you cannot do better
+than accustom yourself to regard this world as a penitentiary, a
+sort of a penal colony, or [Greek: ergastaerion] as the earliest
+philosopher called it.[1] Amongst the Christian Fathers, Origen, with
+praiseworthy courage, took this view,[2] which is further justified by
+certain objective theories of life. I refer, not to my own philosophy
+alone, but to the wisdom of all ages, as expressed in Brahmanism and
+Buddhism, and in the sayings of Greek philosophers like Empedocles and
+Pythagoras; as also by Cicero, in his remark that the wise men of old
+used to teach that we come into this world to pay the penalty of crime
+committed in another state of existence--a doctrine which formed
+part of the initiation into the mysteries.[3] And Vanini--whom his
+contemporaries burned, finding that an easier task than to confute
+him--puts the same thing in a very forcible way. _Man_, he says, _is
+so full of every kind of misery that, were it not repugnant to the
+Christian religion, I should venture to affirm that if evil spirits
+exist at all, they have posed into human form and are now atoning for
+their crimes_.[4] And true Christianity--using the word in its right
+sense--also regards our existence as the consequence of sin and error.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. L. iii, c, 3, p. 399.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Augustine _de cìvitate Dei_., L. xi. c. 23.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Cf. _Fragmenta de philosophia_.]
+
+[Footnote: 4: _De admirandis naturae arcanis_; dial L. p. 35.]
+
+If you accustom yourself to this view of life you will regulate your
+expectations accordingly, and cease to look upon all its disagreeable
+incidents, great and small, its sufferings, its worries, its misery,
+as anything unusual or irregular; nay, you will find that everything
+is as it should be, in a world where each of us pays the penalty of
+existence in his own peculiar way. Amongst the evils of a penal colony
+is the society of those who form it; and if the reader is worthy of
+better company, he will need no words from me to remind him of what he
+has to put up with at present. If he has a soul above the common, or
+if he is a man of genius, he will occasionally feel like some noble
+prisoner of state, condemned to work in the galleys with common
+criminals; and he will follow his example and try to isolate himself.
+
+In general, however, it should be said that this view of life will
+enable us to contemplate the so-called imperfections of the great
+majority of men, their moral and intellectual deficiencies and the
+resulting base type of countenance, without any surprise, to say
+nothing of indignation; for we shall never cease to reflect where we
+are, and that the men about us are beings conceived and born in
+sin, and living to atone for it. That is what Christianity means in
+speaking of the sinful nature of man.
+
+_Pardon's the word to all_! [1] Whatever folly men commit, be
+their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us exercise
+forbearance; remembering that when these faults appear in others, it
+is our follies and vices that we behold. They are the shortcomings of
+humanity, to which we belong; whose faults, one and all, we share;
+yes, even those very faults at which we now wax so indignant, merely
+because they have not yet appeared in ourselves. They are faults that
+do not lie on the surface. But they exist down there in the depths of
+our nature; and should anything call them forth, they will come and
+show themselves, just as we now see them in others. One man, it
+is true, may have faults that are absent in his fellow; and it is
+undeniable that the sum total of bad qualities is in some cases very
+large; for the difference of individuality between man and man passes
+all measure.
+
+[Footnote 1: "Cymbeline," Act v. Sc. 5.]
+
+In fact, the conviction that the world and man is something that had
+better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards
+one another. Nay, from this point of view, we might well consider the
+proper form of address to be, not _Monsieur, Sir, mein Herr_, but _my
+fellow-sufferer, Socî malorum, compagnon de miseres_! This may perhaps
+sound strange, but it is in keeping with the facts; it puts others in
+a right light; and it reminds us of that which is after all the most
+necessary thing in life--the tolerance, patience, regard, and love
+of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore,
+every man owes to his fellow.
+
+
+
+
+THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE.
+
+
+This vanity finds expression in the whole way in which things exist;
+in the infinite nature of Time and Space, as opposed to the finite
+nature of the individual in both; in the ever-passing present moment
+as the only mode of actual existence; in the interdependence and
+relativity of all things; in continual Becoming without ever Being; in
+constant wishing and never being satisfied; in the long battle
+which forms the history of life, where every effort is checked by
+difficulties, and stopped until they are overcome. Time is that in
+which all things pass away; it is merely the form under which the will
+to live--the thing-in-itself and therefore imperishable--has revealed
+to it that its efforts are in vain; it is that agent by which at every
+moment all things in our hands become as nothing, and lose any real
+value they possess.
+
+That which _has been_ exists no more; it exists as little as that
+which has _never_ been. But of everything that exists you must say, in
+the next moment, that it has been. Hence something of great importance
+now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in
+that the latter is a _reality_, and related to the former as something
+to nothing.
+
+A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing,
+after thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for
+a little while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he
+must exist no more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that
+it cannot be true. The crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a
+subject without having a presentiment that Time is something ideal in
+its nature. This ideality of Time and Space is the key to every true
+system of metaphysics; because it provides for quite another order of
+things than is to be met with in the domain of nature. This is why
+Kant is so great.
+
+Of every event in our life we can say only for one moment that it
+_is_; for ever after, that it _was_. Every evening we are poorer by a
+day. It might, perhaps, make us mad to see how rapidly our short span
+of time ebbs away; if it were not that in the furthest depths of our
+being we are secretly conscious of our share in the exhaustible spring
+of eternity, so that we can always hope to find life in it again.
+
+Consideration of the kind, touched on above, might, indeed, lead us to
+embrace the belief that the greatest _wisdom_ is to make the enjoyment
+of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only
+reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand,
+such a course might just as well be called the greatest _folly_: for
+that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly,
+like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.
+
+The whole foundation on which our existence rests is the present--the
+ever-fleeting present. It lies, then, in the very nature of our
+existence to take the form of constant motion, and to offer no
+possibility of our ever attaining the rest for which we are always
+striving. We are like a man running downhill, who cannot keep on his
+legs unless he runs on, and will inevitably fall if he stops; or,
+again, like a pole balanced on the tip of one's finger; or like a
+planet, which would fall into its sun the moment it ceased to hurry
+forward on its way. Unrest is the mark of existence.
+
+In a world where all is unstable, and nought can endure, but is swept
+onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change; where a man, if
+he is to keep erect at all, must always be advancing and moving, like
+an acrobat on a rope--in such a world, happiness in inconceivable.
+How can it dwell where, as Plato says, _continual Becoming and never
+Being_ is the sole form of existence? In the first place, a man never
+is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which
+he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he
+does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the
+end, and comes into harbor with masts and rigging gone. And then, it
+is all one whether he has been happy or miserable; for his life was
+never anything more than a present moment always vanishing; and now it
+is over.
+
+At the same time it is a wonderful thing that, in the world of human
+beings as in that of animals in general, this manifold restless motion
+is produced and kept up by the agency of two simple impulses--hunger
+and the sexual instinct; aided a little, perhaps, by the influence of
+boredom, but by nothing else; and that, in the theatre of life, these
+suffice to form the _primum mobile_ of how complicated a machinery,
+setting in motion how strange and varied a scene!
+
+On looking a little closer, we find that inorganic matter presents
+a constant conflict between chemical forces, which eventually works
+dissolution; and on the other hand, that organic life is impossible
+without continual change of matter, and cannot exist if it does not
+receive perpetual help from without. This is the realm of _finality_;
+and its opposite would be _an infinite existence_, exposed to no
+attack from without, and needing nothing to support it; [Greek: haei
+hosautos dn], the realm of eternal peace; [Greek: oute giguomenon oute
+apollumenon], some timeless, changeless state, one and undiversified;
+the negative knowledge of which forms the dominant note of the
+Platonic philosophy. It is to some such state as this that the denial
+of the will to live opens up the way.
+
+The scenes of our life are like pictures done in rough mosaic. Looked
+at close, they produce no effect. There is nothing beautiful to
+be found in them, unless you stand some distance off. So, to gain
+anything we have longed for is only to discover how vain and empty
+it is; and even though we are always living in expectation of better
+things, at the same time we often repent and long to have the past
+back again. We look upon the present as something to be put up with
+while it lasts, and serving only as the way towards our goal. Hence
+most people, if they glance back when they come to the end of life,
+will find that all along they have been living _ad interim_: they will
+be surprised to find that the very thing they disregarded and let
+slip by unenjoyed, was just the life in the expectation of which they
+passed all their time. Of how many a man may it not be said that hope
+made a fool of him until he danced into the arms of death!
+
+Then again, how insatiable a creature is man! Every satisfaction he
+attains lays the seeds of some new desire, so that there is no end to
+the wishes of each individual will. And why is this? The real reason
+is simply that, taken in itself, Will is the lord of all worlds:
+everything belongs to it, and therefore no one single thing can ever
+give it satisfaction, but only the whole, which is endless. For all
+that, it must rouse our sympathy to think how very little the Will,
+this lord of the world, really gets when it takes the form of an
+individual; usually only just enough to keep the body together. This
+is why man is so very miserable.
+
+Life presents itself chiefly as a task--the task, I mean, of
+subsisting at all, _gagner sa vie_. If this is accomplished, life is a
+burden, and then there comes the second task of doing something with
+that which has been won--of warding off boredom, which, like a bird
+of prey, hovers over us, ready to fall wherever it sees a life secure
+from need. The first task is to win something; the second, to banish
+the feeling that it has been won; otherwise it is a burden.
+
+Human life must be some kind of mistake. The truth of this will be
+sufficiently obvious if we only remember that man is a compound of
+needs and necessities hard to satisfy; and that even when they are
+satisfied, all he obtains is a state of painlessness, where nothing
+remains to him but abandonment to boredom. This is direct proof that
+existence has no real value in itself; for what is boredom but the
+feeling of the emptiness of life? If life--the craving for which
+is the very essence of our being--were possessed of any positive
+intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere
+existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing.
+But as it is, we take no delight in existence except when we are
+struggling for something; and then distance and difficulties to be
+overcome make our goal look as though it would satisfy us--an illusion
+which vanishes when we reach it; or else when we are occupied with
+some purely intellectual interest--when in reality we have stepped
+forth from life to look upon it from the outside, much after the
+manner of spectators at a play. And even sensual pleasure itself means
+nothing but a struggle and aspiration, ceasing the moment its aim is
+attained. Whenever we are not occupied in one of these ways, but cast
+upon existence itself, its vain and worthless nature is brought home
+to us; and this is what we mean by boredom. The hankering after what
+is strange and uncommon--an innate and ineradicable tendency of human
+nature--shows how glad we are at any interruption of that natural
+course of affairs which is so very tedious.
+
+That this most perfect manifestation of the will to live, the human
+organism, with the cunning and complex working of its machinery,
+must fall to dust and yield up itself and all its strivings to
+extinction--this is the naïve way in which Nature, who is always so
+true and sincere in what she says, proclaims the whole struggle of
+this will as in its very essence barren and unprofitable. Were it of
+any value in itself, anything unconditioned and absolute, it could not
+thus end in mere nothing.
+
+If we turn from contemplating the world as a whole, and, in
+particular, the generations of men as they live their little hour of
+mock-existence and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn
+from this, and look at life in its small details, as presented, say,
+in a comedy, how ridiculous it all seems! It is like a drop of water
+seen through a microscope, a single drop teeming with _infusoria_; or
+a speck of cheese full of mites invisible to the naked eye. How we
+laugh as they bustle about so eagerly, and struggle with one another
+in so tiny a space! And whether here, or in the little span of human
+life, this terrible activity produces a comic effect.
+
+It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. It is an
+indivisible point, drawn out and magnified by the powerful lenses of
+Time and Space.
+
+
+
+
+ON SUICIDE.
+
+
+As far as I know, none but the votaries of monotheistic, that is to
+say, Jewish religions, look upon suicide as a crime. This is all the
+more striking, inasmuch as neither in the Old nor in the New Testament
+is there to be found any prohibition or positive disapproval of it;
+so that religious teachers are forced to base their condemnation of
+suicide on philosophical grounds of their own invention. These are
+so very bad that writers of this kind endeavor to make up for the
+weakness of their arguments by the strong terms in which they express
+their abhorrence of the practice; in other words, they declaim against
+it. They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice; that
+only a madman could be guilty of it; and other insipidities of the
+same kind; or else they make the nonsensical remark that suicide is
+_wrong_; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world
+to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life
+and person.
+
+Suicide, as I have said, is actually accounted a crime; and a crime
+which, especially under the vulgar bigotry that prevails in England,
+is followed by an ignominious burial and the seizure of the man's
+property; and for that reason, in a case of suicide, the jury almost
+always brings in a verdict of insanity. Now let the reader's own moral
+feelings decide as to whether or not suicide is a criminal act. Think
+of the impression that would be made upon you by the news that some
+one you know had committed the crime, say, of murder or theft, or been
+guilty of some act of cruelty or deception; and compare it with your
+feelings when you hear that he has met a voluntary death. While in the
+one case a lively sense of indignation and extreme resentment will be
+aroused, and you will call loudly for punishment or revenge, in the
+other you will be moved to grief and sympathy; and mingled with your
+thoughts will be admiration for his courage, rather than the moral
+disapproval which follows upon a wicked action. Who has not had
+acquaintances, friends, relations, who of their own free will have
+left this world; and are these to be thought of with horror as
+criminals? Most emphatically, No! I am rather of opinion that the
+clergy should be challenged to explain what right they have to go into
+the pulpit, or take up their pens, and stamp as a crime an action
+which many men whom we hold in affection and honor have committed;
+and to refuse an honorable burial to those who relinquish this
+world voluntarily. They have no Biblical authority to boast of,
+as justifying their condemnation of suicide; nay, not even any
+philosophical arguments that will hold water; and it must be
+understood that it is arguments we want, and that we will not be put
+off with mere phrases or words of abuse. If the criminal law forbids
+suicide, that is not an argument valid in the Church; and besides, the
+prohibition is ridiculous; for what penalty can frighten a man who is
+not afraid of death itself? If the law punishes people for trying
+to commit suicide, it is punishing the want of skill that makes the
+attempt a failure.
+
+The ancients, moreover, were very far from regarding the matter in
+that light. Pliny says: _Life is not so desirable a thing as to be
+protracted at any cost. Whoever you are, you are sure to die, even
+though your life has been full of abomination and crime. The chief
+of all remedies for a troubled mind is the feeling that among the
+blessings which Nature gives to man, there is none greater than an
+opportune death; and the best of it is that every one can avail
+himself of it.[1]_ And elsewhere the same writer declares: _Not even
+to God are all things possible; for he could not compass his own
+death, if he willed to die, and yet in all the miseries of our earthly
+life, this is the best of his gifts to man.[2]_ Nay, in Massilia
+and on the isle of Ceos, the man who could give valid reasons
+for relinquishing his life, was handed the cup of hemlock by the
+magistrate; and that, too, in public.[3] And in ancient times, how
+many heroes and wise men died a voluntary death. Aristotle,[4] it is
+true, declared suicide to be an offence against the State, although
+not against the person; but in Stobaeus' exposition of the Peripatetic
+philosophy there is the following remark: _The good man should flee
+life when his misfortunes become too great; the bad man, also, when
+he is too prosperous_. And similarly: _So he will marry and beget
+children and take part in the affairs of the State, and, generally,
+practice virtue and continue to live; and then, again, if need be,
+and at any time necessity compels him, he will depart to his place of
+refuge in the tomb.[5]_ And we find that the Stoics actually praised
+suicide as a noble and heroic action, as hundreds of passages show;
+above all in the works of Seneca, who expresses the strongest approval
+of it. As is well known, the Hindoos look upon suicide as a religious
+act, especially when it takes the form of self-immolation by widows;
+but also when it consists in casting oneself under the wheels of the
+chariot of the god at Juggernaut, or being eaten by crocodiles in the
+Ganges, or being drowned in the holy tanks in the temples, and so on.
+The same thing occurs on the stage--that mirror of life. For example,
+in _L'Orphelin de la Chine_[6] a celebrated Chinese play, almost
+all the noble characters end by suicide; without the slightest hint
+anywhere, or any impression being produced on the spectator, that
+they are committing a crime. And in our own theatre it is much the
+same--Palmira, for instance, in _Mahomet_, or Mortimer in _Maria
+Stuart_, Othello, Countess Terzky.[7] Is Hamlet's monologue the
+meditation of a criminal? He merely declares that if we had any
+certainty of being annihilated by it, death would be infinitely
+preferable to the world as it is. But _there lies the rub_!
+
+[Footnote 1: Hist. Nat. Lib. xxviii., 1.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Loc. cit. Lib. ii. c. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: 3 Valerius Maximus; hist. Lib. ii., c. 6, § 7 et 8.
+Heraclides Ponticus; fragmenta de rebus publicis, ix. Aeliani variae
+historiae, iii., 37. Strabo; Lib. x., c. 5, 6.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Eth. Nichom_., v. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Stobaeus. _Ecl. Eth_.. ii., c. 7, pp. 286, 312]
+
+[Footnote 6: Traduit par St. Julien, 1834.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Translator's Note_.--Palmira: a female slave in Goethe's
+play of _Mahomet_. Mortimer: a would-be lover and rescuer of Mary in
+Schiller's _Maria Stuart_. Countess Terzky: a leading character in
+Schiller's _Wallenstein's Tod_.]
+
+The reasons advanced against suicide by the clergy of monotheistic,
+that is to say, Jewish religions, and by those philosophers who adapt
+themselves thereto, are weak sophisms which can easily be refuted.[1]
+The most thorough-going refutation of them is given by Hume in his
+_Essay on Suicide_. This did not appear until after his death, when
+it was immediately suppressed, owing to the scandalous bigotry and
+outrageous ecclesiastical tyranny that prevailed in England; and hence
+only a very few copies of it were sold under cover of secrecy and at a
+high price. This and another treatise by that great man have come to
+us from Basle, and we may be thankful for the reprint.[2] It is a
+great disgrace to the English nation that a purely philosophical
+treatise, which, proceeding from one of the first thinkers and writers
+in England, aimed at refuting the current arguments against suicide
+by the light of cold reason, should be forced to sneak about in that
+country, as though it were some rascally production, until at last it
+found refuge on the Continent. At the same time it shows what a good
+conscience the Church has in such matters.
+
+[Footnote 1: See my treatise on the _Foundation of Morals_, § 5.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Essays on Suicide_ and the _Immortality of the Soul_, by
+the late David Hume, Basle, 1799, sold by James Decker.]
+
+In my chief work I have explained the only valid reason existing
+against suicide on the score of mortality. It is this: that suicide
+thwarts the attainment of the highest moral aim by the fact that, for
+a real release from this world of misery, it substitutes one that is
+merely apparent. But from a _mistake_ to a _crime_ is a far cry; and
+it is as a crime that the clergy of Christendom wish us to regard
+suicide.
+
+The inmost kernel of Christianity is the truth that suffering--_the
+Cross_--is the real end and object of life. Hence Christianity
+condemns suicide as thwarting this end; whilst the ancient world,
+taking a lower point of view, held it in approval, nay, in honor.[1]
+But if that is to be accounted a valid reason against suicide, it
+involves the recognition of asceticism; that is to say, it is valid
+only from a much higher ethical standpoint than has ever been adopted
+by moral philosophers in Europe. If we abandon that high standpoint,
+there is no tenable reason left, on the score of morality, for
+condemning suicide. The extraordinary energy and zeal with which the
+clergy of monotheistic religions attack suicide is not supported
+either by any passages in the Bible or by any considerations of
+weight; so that it looks as though they must have some secret reason
+for their contention. May it not be this--that the voluntary surrender
+of life is a bad compliment for him who said that _all things were
+very good_? If this is so, it offers another instance of the crass
+optimism of these religions,--denouncing suicide to escape being
+denounced by it.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--Schopenhauer refers to _Die Welt
+als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol. i., § 69, where the reader may find
+the same argument stated at somewhat greater length. According to
+Schopenhauer, moral freedom--the highest ethical aim--is to be
+obtained only by a denial of the will to live. Far from being a
+denial, suicide is an emphatic assertion of this will. For it is in
+fleeing from the pleasures, not from the sufferings of life, that this
+denial consists. When a man destroys his existence as an individual,
+he is not by any means destroying his will to live. On the contrary,
+he would like to live if he could do so with satisfaction to himself;
+if he could assert his will against the power of circumstance; but
+circumstance is too strong for him.]
+
+It will generally be found that, as soon as the terrors of life reach
+the point at which they outweigh the terrors of death, a man will
+put an end to his life. But the terrors of death offer considerable
+resistance; they stand like a sentinel at the gate leading out of this
+world. Perhaps there is no man alive who would not have already put an
+end to his life, if this end had been of a purely negative character,
+a sudden stoppage of existence. There is something positive about
+it; it is the destruction of the body; and a man shrinks from that,
+because his body is the manifestation of the will to live.
+
+However, the struggle with that sentinel is, as a rule, not so hard
+as it may seem from a long way off, mainly in consequence of the
+antagonism between the ills of the body and the ills of the mind. If
+we are in great bodily pain, or the pain lasts a long time, we become
+indifferent to other troubles; all we think about is to get well. In
+the same way great mental suffering makes us insensible to bodily
+pain; we despise it; nay, if it should outweigh the other, it
+distracts our thoughts, and we welcome it as a pause in mental
+suffering. It is this feeling that makes suicide easy; for the bodily
+pain that accompanies it loses all significance in the eyes of one
+who is tortured by an excess of mental suffering. This is especially
+evident in the case of those who are driven to suicide by some purely
+morbid and exaggerated ill-humor. No special effort to overcome their
+feelings is necessary, nor do such people require to be worked up in
+order to take the step; but as soon as the keeper into whose charge
+they are given leaves them for a couple of minutes, they quickly bring
+their life to an end.
+
+When, in some dreadful and ghastly dream, we reach the moment of
+greatest horror, it awakes us; thereby banishing all the hideous
+shapes that were born of the night. And life is a dream: when the
+moment of greatest horror compels us to break it off, the same thing
+happens.
+
+Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment--a question which man
+puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is
+this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his
+insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make;
+for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts
+the question and awaits the answer.
+
+
+
+
+IMMORTALITY:[1] A DIALOGUE.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The word
+immortality--_Unsterblichkeit_--does not occur in the original; nor
+would it, in its usual application, find a place in Schopenhauer's
+vocabulary. The word he uses is _Unzerstörbarkeit--indestructibility_.
+But I have preferred _immortality_, because that word is commonly
+associated with the subject touched upon in this little debate. If any
+critic doubts the wisdom of this preference, let me ask him to try
+his hand at a short, concise, and, at the same time, popularly
+intelligible rendering of the German original, which runs thus: _Zur
+Lehre von der Unzerstörbarkeit unseres wahren Wesens durch den Tod:
+Meine dialogische Schlussbelustigung_.]
+
+
+THRASYMACHOS--PHILALETHES.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Tell me now, in one word, what shall I be after my
+death? And mind you be clear and precise.
+
+_Philalethes_. All and nothing!
+
+_Thrasymachos_. I thought so! I gave you a problem, and you solve it
+by a contradiction. That's a very stale trick.
+
+_Philalethes_. Yes, but you raise transcendental questions, and you
+expect me to answer them in language that is only made for immanent
+knowledge. It's no wonder that a contradiction ensues.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. What do you mean by transcendental questions and
+immanent knowledge? I've heard these expressions before, of course;
+they are not new to me. The Professor was fond of using them, but only
+as predicates of the Deity, and he never talked of anything else;
+which was all quite right and proper. He argued thus: if the Deity was
+in the world itself, he was immanent; if he was somewhere outside it,
+he was transcendent. Nothing could be clearer and more obvious! You
+knew where you were. But this Kantian rigmarole won't do any more:
+it's antiquated and no longer applicable to modern ideas. Why, we've
+had a whole row of eminent men in the metropolis of German learning--
+
+_Philalethes_. (Aside.) German humbug, he means.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. The mighty Schleiermacher, for instance, and that
+gigantic intellect, Hegel; and at this time of day we've abandoned
+that nonsense. I should rather say we're so far beyond it that we
+can't put up with it any more. What's the use of it then? What does it
+all mean?
+
+_Philalethes_. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge which passes
+beyond the bounds of possible experience, and strives to determine the
+nature of things as they are in themselves. Immanent knowledge, on the
+other hand, is knowledge which confines itself entirely with those
+bounds; so that it cannot apply to anything but actual phenomena. As
+far as you are an individual, death will be the end of you. But your
+individuality is not your true and inmost being: it is only the
+outward manifestation of it. It is not the _thing-in-itself_, but only
+the phenomenon presented in the form of time; and therefore with a
+beginning and an end. But your real being knows neither time, nor
+beginning, nor end, nor yet the limits of any given individual. It is
+everywhere present in every individual; and no individual can
+exist apart from it. So when death comes, on the one hand you are
+annihilated as an individual; on the other, you are and remain
+everything. That is what I meant when I said that after your death
+you would be all and nothing. It is difficult to find a more precise
+answer to your question and at the same time be brief. The answer is
+contradictory, I admit; but it is so simply because your life is in
+time, and the immortal part of you in eternity. You may put the matter
+thus: Your immortal part is something that does not last in time and
+yet is indestructible; but there you have another contradiction! You
+see what happens by trying to bring the transcendental within the
+limits of immanent knowledge. It is in some sort doing violence to the
+latter by misusing it for ends it was never meant to serve.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Look here, I shan't give twopence for your immortality
+unless I'm to remain an individual.
+
+_Philalethes_. Well, perhaps I may be able to satisfy you on this
+point. Suppose I guarantee that after death you shall remain an
+individual, but only on condition that you first spend three months of
+complete unconsciousness.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. I shall have no objection to that.
+
+_Philalethes_. But remember, if people are completely unconscious,
+they take no account of time. So, when you are dead, it's all the same
+to you whether three months pass in the world of consciousness, or ten
+thousand years. In the one case as in the other, it is simply a matter
+of believing what is told you when you awake. So far, then, you can
+afford to be indifferent whether it is three months or ten thousand
+years that pass before you recover your individuality.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Yes, if it comes to that, I suppose you're right.
+
+_Philalethes_. And if by chance, after those ten thousand years have
+gone by, no one ever thinks of awakening you, I fancy it would be
+no great misfortune. You would have become quite accustomed to
+non-existence after so long a spell of it--following upon such a very
+few years of life. At any rate you may be sure you would be perfectly
+ignorant of the whole thing. Further, if you knew that the mysterious
+power which keeps you in your present state of life had never once
+ceased in those ten thousand years to bring forth other phenomena like
+yourself, and to endow them with life, it would fully console you.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Indeed! So you think you're quietly going to do me
+out of my individuality with all this fine talk. But I'm up to your
+tricks. I tell you I won't exist unless I can have my individuality.
+I'm not going to be put off with 'mysterious powers,' and what you
+call 'phenomena.' I can't do without my individuality, and I won't
+give it up.
+
+_Philalethes_. You mean, I suppose, that your individuality is such a
+delightful thing, so splendid, so perfect, and beyond compare--that
+you can't imagine anything better. Aren't you ready to exchange your
+present state for one which, if we can judge by what is told us, may
+possibly be superior and more endurable?
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Don't you see that my individuality, be it what it
+may, is my very self? To me it is the most important thing in the
+world.
+
+  _For God is God and I am I_.
+
+_I_ want to exist, _I, I_. That's the main thing. I don't care about
+an existence which has to be proved to be mine, before I can believe
+it.
+
+_Philalethes_. Think what you're doing! When you say _I, I, I_ want
+to exist, it is not you alone that says this. Everything says it,
+absolutely everything that has the faintest trace of consciousness. It
+follows, then, that this desire of yours is just the part of you that
+is _not individual_--the part that is common to all things without
+distinction. It is the cry, not of the individual, but of existence
+itself; it is the intrinsic element in everything that exists, nay, it
+is the cause of anything existing at all. This desire craves for, and
+so is satisfied with, nothing less than existence in general--not any
+definite individual existence. No! that is not its aim. It seems to be
+so only because this desire--this _Will_--attains consciousness only
+in the individual, and therefore looks as though it were concerned
+with nothing but the individual. There lies the illusion--an illusion,
+it is true, in which the individual is held fast: but, if he reflects,
+he can break the fetters and set himself free. It is only indirectly,
+I say, that the individual has this violent craving for existence. It
+is _the Will to Live_ which is the real and direct aspirant--alike and
+identical in all things. Since, then, existence is the free work, nay,
+the mere reflection of the will, where existence is, there, too,
+must be will; and for the moment the will finds its satisfaction in
+existence itself; so far, I mean, as that which never rests, but
+presses forward eternally, can ever find any satisfaction at all.
+The will is careless of the individual: the individual is not its
+business; although, as I have said, this seems to be the case, because
+the individual has no direct consciousness of will except in himself.
+The effect of this is to make the individual careful to maintain his
+own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety
+for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that
+individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather of limitation;
+and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain. Trouble yourself no
+more about the matter. Once thoroughly recognize what you are, what
+your existence really is, namely, the universal will to live, and the
+whole question will seem to you childish, and most ridiculous!
+
+_Thrasymachos_. You're childish yourself and most ridiculous, like
+all philosophers! and if a man of my age lets himself in for a
+quarter-of-an-hour's talk with such fools, it is only because it
+amuses me and passes the time. I've more important business to attend
+to, so Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+FURTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
+
+
+There is an unconscious propriety in the way in which, in all European
+languages, the word _person_ is commonly used to denote a human
+being. The real meaning of _persona_ is _a mask_, such as actors were
+accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no
+one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part.
+Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a
+perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds
+society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing us the
+consequence and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell
+us what the future will be? This is precisely why reason is such an
+excellent power of restraint in moments when we are possessed by some
+base passion, some fit of anger, some covetous desire, that will lead
+us to do things whereof we must presently repent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Hatred_ comes from the heart; _contempt_ from the head; and neither
+feeling is quite within our control. For we cannot alter our heart;
+its basis is determined by motives; and our head deals with objective
+facts, and applies to them rules which are immutable. Any given
+individual is the union of a particular heart with a particular head.
+
+Hatred and contempt are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.
+There are even not a few cases where hatred of a person is rooted in
+nothing but forced esteem for his qualities. And besides, if a man
+sets out to hate all the miserable creatures he meets, he will not
+have much energy left for anything else; whereas he can despise them,
+one and all, with the greatest ease. True, genuine contempt is just
+the reverse of true, genuine pride; it keeps quite quiet and gives no
+sign of its existence. For if a man shows that he despises you, he
+signifies at least this much regard for you, that he wants to let
+you know how little he appreciates you; and his wish is dictated by
+hatred, which cannot exist with real contempt. On the contrary, if it
+is genuine, it is simply the conviction that the object of it is a man
+of no value at all. Contempt is not incompatible with indulgent and
+kindly treatment, and for the sake of one's own peace and safety, this
+should not be omitted; it will prevent irritation; and there is no
+one who cannot do harm if he is roused to it. But if this pure, cold,
+sincere contempt ever shows itself, it will be met with the most
+truculent hatred; for the despised person is not in a position to
+fight contempt with its own weapons.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Melancholy is a very different thing from bad humor, and of the two,
+it is not nearly so far removed from a gay and happy temperament.
+Melancholy attracts, while bad humor repels.
+
+Hypochondria is a species of torment which not only makes us
+unreasonably cross with the things of the present; not only fills us
+with groundless anxiety on the score of future misfortunes entirely
+of our own manufacture; but also leads to unmerited self-reproach for
+what we have done in the past.
+
+Hypochondria shows itself in a perpetual hunting after things that vex
+and annoy, and then brooding over them. The cause of it is an inward
+morbid discontent, often co-existing with a naturally restless
+temperament. In their extreme form, this discontent and this unrest
+lead to suicide.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Any incident, however trivial, that rouses disagreeable emotion,
+leaves an after-effect in our mind, which for the time it lasts,
+prevents our taking a clear objective view of the things about us, and
+tinges all our thoughts: just as a small object held close to the eye
+limits and distorts our field of vision.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What makes people _hard-hearted_ is this, that each man has, or
+fancies he has, as much as he can bear in his own troubles. Hence, if
+a man suddenly finds himself in an unusually happy position, it will
+in most cases result in his being sympathetic and kind. But if he has
+never been in any other than a happy position, or this becomes his
+permanent state, the effect of it is often just the contrary: it so
+far removes him from suffering that he is incapable of feeling any
+more sympathy with it. So it is that the poor often show themselves
+more ready to help than the rich.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At times it seems as though we both wanted and did not want the same
+thing, and felt at once glad and sorry about it. For instance, if
+on some fixed date we are going to be put to a decisive test about
+anything in which it would be a great advantage to us to come off
+victorious, we shall be anxious for it to take place at once, and at
+the same time we shall tremble at the thought of its approach. And if,
+in the meantime, we hear that, for once in a way, the date has been
+postponed, we shall experience a feeling both of pleasure and of
+annoyance; for the news is disappointing, but nevertheless it affords
+us momentary relief. It is just the same thing if we are expecting
+some important letter carrying a definite decision, and it fails to
+arrive.
+
+In such cases there are really two different motives at work in us;
+the stronger but more distant of the two being the desire to stand
+the test and to have the decision given in our favor; and the weaker,
+which touches us more nearly, the wish to be left for the present in
+peace and quiet, and accordingly in further enjoyment of the advantage
+which at any rate attaches to a state of hopeful uncertainty, compared
+with the possibility that the issue may be unfavorable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In my head there is a permanent opposition-party; and whenever I take
+any step or come to any decision--though I may have given the matter
+mature consideration--it afterwards attacks what I have done, without,
+however, being each time necessarily in the right. This is, I suppose,
+only a form of rectification on the part of the spirit of scrutiny;
+but it often reproaches me when I do not deserve it. The same thing,
+no doubt, happens to many others as well; for where is the man who
+can help thinking that, after all, it were better not to have done
+something that he did with great deliberation:
+
+  _Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te
+  Conatus non poeniteat votique peracti_?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why is it that _common_ is an expression of contempt? and that
+_uncommon, extraordinary, distinguished_, denote approbation? Why is
+everything that is common contemptible?
+
+_Common_ in its original meaning denotes that which is peculiar to all
+men, _i.e_., shared equally by the whole species, and therefore an
+inherent part of its nature. Accordingly, if an individual possesses
+no qualities beyond those which attach to mankind in general, he is
+a _common man. Ordinary_ is a much milder word, and refers rather
+to intellectual character; whereas _common_ has more of a moral
+application.
+
+What value can a creature have that is not a whit different from
+millions of its kind? Millions, do I say? nay, an infiniture of
+creatures which, century after century, in never-ending flow, Nature
+sends bubbling up from her inexhaustible springs; as generous with
+them as the smith with the useless sparks that fly around his anvil.
+
+It is obviously quite right that a creature which has no qualities
+except those of the species, should have to confine its claim to an
+existence entirely within the limits of the species, and live a life
+conditioned by those limits.
+
+In various passages of my works,[1] I have argued that whilst a lower
+animal possesses nothing more than the generic character of its
+species, man is the only being which can lay claim to possess an
+individual character. But in most men this individual character comes
+to very little in reality; and they may be almost all ranged under
+certain classes: _ce sont des espèces_. Their thoughts and desires,
+like their faces, are those of the species, or, at any rate, those
+of the class to which they belong; and accordingly, they are of a
+trivial, every-day, common character, and exist by the thousand. You
+can usually tell beforehand what they are likely to do and say. They
+have no special stamp or mark to distinguish them; they are like
+manufactured goods, all of a piece.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 48; _Welt als Wille und
+Vorstellung_, vol. i. p. 338.]
+
+If, then, their nature is merged in that of the species, how shall
+their existence go beyond it? The curse of vulgarity puts men on a par
+with the lower animals, by allowing them none but a generic nature, a
+generic form of existence. Anything that is high or great or noble,
+must then, as a mater of course, and by its very nature, stand alone
+in a world where no better expression can be found to denote what is
+base and contemptible than that which I have mentioned as in general
+use, namely, _common_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will, as the _thing-in-itself_, is the foundation of all being; it
+is part and parcel of every creature, and the permanent element in
+everything. Will, then, is that which we possess in common with all
+men, nay, with all animals, and even with lower forms of existence;
+and in so far we are akin to everything--so far, that is, as
+everything is filled to overflowing with will. On the other hand, that
+which places one being over another, and sets differences between man
+and man, is intellect and knowledge; therefore in every manifestation
+of self we should, as far as possible, give play to the intellect
+alone; for, as we have seen, the will is the _common_ part of us.
+Every violent exhibition of will is common and vulgar; in other words,
+it reduces us to the level of the species, and makes us a mere type
+and example of it; in that it is just the character of the
+species that we are showing. So every fit of anger is something
+_common_--every unrestrained display of joy, or of hate, or fear--in
+short, every form of emotion; in other words, every movement of the
+will, if it's so strong as decidedly to outweigh the intellectual
+element in consciousness, and to make the man appear as a being that
+_wills_ rather than _knows_.
+
+In giving way to emotion of this violent kind, the greatest genius
+puts himself on a level with the commonest son of earth. Contrarily,
+if a man desires to be absolutely uncommon, in other words, great, he
+should never allow his consciousness to be taken possession of
+and dominated by the movement of his will, however much he may be
+solicited thereto. For example, he must be able to observe that other
+people are badly disposed towards him, without feeling any hatred
+towards them himself; nay, there is no surer sign of a great mind than
+that it refuses to notice annoying and insulting expressions, but
+straightway ascribes them, as it ascribes countless other mistakes, to
+the defective knowledge of the speaker, and so merely observes without
+feeling them. This is the meaning of that remark of Gracian, that
+nothing is more unworthy of a man than to let it be seen that he is
+one--_el mayor desdoro de un hombre es dar muestras de que es hombre_.
+
+And even in the drama, which is the peculiar province of the passions
+and emotions, it is easy for them to appear common and vulgar. And
+this is specially observable in the works of the French tragic
+writers, who set no other aim before themselves but the delineation
+of the passions; and by indulging at one moment in a vaporous kind
+of pathos which makes them ridiculous, at another in epigrammatic
+witticisms, endeavor to conceal the vulgarity of their subject. I
+remember seeing the celebrated Mademoiselle Rachel as Maria Stuart:
+and when she burst out in fury against Elizabeth--though she did it
+very well--I could not help thinking of a washerwoman. She played
+the final parting in such a way as to deprive it of all true tragic
+feeling, of which, indeed, the French have no notion at all. The same
+part was incomparably better played by the Italian Ristori; and, in
+fact, the Italian nature, though in many respects very different from
+the German, shares its appreciation for what is deep, serious, and
+true in Art; herein opposed to the French, which everywhere betrays
+that it possesses none of this feeling whatever.
+
+The noble, in other words, the uncommon, element in the drama--nay,
+what is sublime in it--is not reached until the intellect is set to
+work, as opposed to the will; until it takes a free flight over all
+those passionate movements of the will, and makes them subject of its
+contemplation. Shakespeare, in particular, shows that this is his
+general method, more especially in Hamlet. And only when intellect
+rises to the point where the vanity of all effort is manifest, and the
+will proceeds to an act of self-annulment, is the drama tragic in the
+true sense of the word; it is then that it reaches its highest aim in
+becoming really sublime.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits
+of the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that
+error of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and
+earth meet. This explains many things, and among them the fact that
+everyone measures us with his own standard--generally about as long as
+a tailor's tape, and we have to put up with it: as also that no one
+will allow us to be taller than himself--a supposition which is once
+for all taken for granted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is no doubt that many a man owes his good fortune in life solely
+to the circumstance that he has a pleasant way of smiling, and so wins
+the heart in his favor.
+
+However, the heart would do better to be careful, and to remember what
+Hamlet put down in his tablets--_that one may smile, and smile, and be
+a villain_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Everything that is really fundamental in a man, and therefore genuine
+works, as such, unconsciously; in this respect like the power of
+nature. That which has passed through the domain of consciousness is
+thereby transformed into an idea or picture; and so if it comes to be
+uttered, it is only an idea or picture which passes from one person to
+another.
+
+Accordingly, any quality of mind or character that is genuine and
+lasting, is originally unconscious; and it is only when unconsciously
+brought into play that it makes a profound impression. If any like
+quality is consciously exercised, it means that it has been worked up;
+it becomes intentional, and therefore matter of affectation, in other
+words, of deception.
+
+If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if
+he tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails. This applies to the
+origin of those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of
+all genuine work. Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold
+water; and every man who wants to achieve something, whether in
+practical life, in literature, or in art, must _follow the rules
+without knowing them_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men of very great capacity, will as a rule, find the company of very
+stupid people preferable to that of the common run; for the same
+reason that the tyrant and the mob, the grandfather and the
+grandchildren, are natural allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That line of Ovid's,
+
+  _Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram_,
+
+can be applied in its true physical sense to the lower animals alone;
+but in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly
+all men as well. All their plans and projects are merged in the desire
+of physical enjoyment, physical well-being. They may, indeed, have
+personal interests, often embracing a very varied sphere; but still
+these latter receive their importance entirely from the relation in
+which they stand to the former. This is not only proved by their
+manner of life and the things they say, but it even shows itself in
+the way they look, the expression of their physiognomy, their gait and
+gesticulations. Everything about them cries out; _in terram prona_!
+
+It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
+natures--men who really think and look about them in the world, and
+form exceptional specimens of humanity--that the next lines are
+applicable;
+
+  _Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
+  Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in
+himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in
+a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of
+the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and
+yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain.
+When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent
+warmth contained in it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one
+really knows what he looks like?
+
+A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
+then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, _Know
+thyself_.
+
+This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is
+physically impossible for a man to see himself in the glass except
+with face turned straight towards it and perfectly motionless; where
+the expression of the eye, which counts for so much, and really gives
+its whole character to the face, is to a great extent lost. But
+co-existing with this physical impossibility, there seems to me to be
+an ethical impossibility of an analogous nature, and producing the
+same effect. A man cannot look upon his own reflection as though the
+person presented there were _a stranger_ to him; and yet this is
+necessary if he is to take _an objective view_. In the last resort,
+an objective view means a deep-rooted feeling on the part of the
+individual, as a moral being, that that which he is contemplating is
+_not himself_[1]; and unless he can take this point of view, he will
+not see things in a really true light, which is possible only if he is
+alive to their actual defects, exactly as they are. Instead of that,
+when a man sees himself in the glass, something out of his own
+egotistic nature whispers to him to take care to remember that _it is
+no stranger, but himself, that he is looking at_; and this operates as
+a _noli me tang ere_, and prevents him taking an objective view. It
+seems, indeed, as if, without the leaven of a grain of malice, such a
+view were impossible.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 275.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+According as a man's mental energy is exerted or relaxed, will life
+appear to him either so short, and petty, and fleeting, that nothing
+can possibly happen over which it is worth his while to spend emotion;
+that nothing really matters, whether it is pleasure or riches, or even
+fame, and that in whatever way a man may have failed, he cannot
+have lost much--or, on the other hand, life will seem so long, so
+important, so all in all, so momentous and so full of difficulty that
+we have to plunge into it with our whole soul if we are to obtain a
+share of its goods, make sure of its prizes, and carry out our plans.
+This latter is the immanent and common view of life; it is what
+Gracian means when he speaks of the serious way of looking
+at things--_tomar muy de veras el vivir_. The former is the
+transcendental view, which is well expressed in Ovid's _non est
+tanti_--it is not worth so much trouble; still better, however, by
+Plato's remark that nothing in human affairs is worth any great
+anxiety--[Greek: oute ti ton anthropinon axion esti megalaes
+spoudaes.] This condition of mind is due to the intellect having got
+the upper hand in the domain of consciousness, where, freed from
+the mere service of the will, it looks upon the phenomena of life
+objectively, and so cannot fail to gain a clear insight into its
+vain and futile character. But in the other condition of mind, will
+predominates; and the intellect exists only to light it on its way to
+the attainment of its desires.
+
+A man is great or small according as he leans to the one or the other
+of these views of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+People of very brilliant ability think little of admitting their
+errors and weaknesses, or of letting others see them. They look upon
+them as something for which they have duly paid; and instead of
+fancying that these weaknesses are a disgrace to them, they consider
+they are doing them an honor. This is especially the case when
+the errors are of the kind that hang together with their
+qualities--_conditiones sine quibus non_--or, as George Sand said,
+_les défauts de ses vertus_.
+
+Contrarily, there are people of good character and irreproachable
+intellectual capacity, who, far from admitting the few little
+weaknesses they have, conceal them with care, and show themselves very
+sensitive to any suggestion of their existence; and this, just because
+their whole merit consists in being free from error and infirmity. If
+these people are found to have done anything wrong, their reputation
+immediately suffers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With people of only moderate ability, modesty is mere honesty; but
+with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy. Hence, it is
+just as becoming in the latter to make no secret of the respect they
+bear themselves and no disguise of the fact that they are conscious of
+unusual power, as it is in the former to be modest. Valerius
+Maximus gives some very neat examples of this in his chapter on
+self-confidence, _de fiducia sui_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not to go to the theatre is like making one's toilet without a mirror.
+But it is still worse to take a decision without consulting a friend.
+For a man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters,
+and yet go wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will
+comes in and deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take
+counsel of a friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he
+falls ill, he sends for a colleague.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In all that we do, we wish, more or less, to come to the end; we are
+impatient to finish and glad to be done. But the last scene of all,
+the general end, is something that, as a rule, we wish as far off as
+may be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again
+a foretaste of the resurrection. This is why even people who were
+indifferent to each other, rejoice so much if they come together again
+after twenty or thirty years' separation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Intellects differ from one another in a very real and fundamental way:
+but no comparison can well be made by merely general observations. It
+is necessary to come close, and to go into details; for the difference
+that exists cannot be seen from afar; and it is not easy to judge by
+outward appearances, as in the several cases of education, leisure and
+occupation. But even judging by these alone, it must be admitted that
+many a man has _a degree of existence_ at least ten times as high as
+another--in other words, exists ten times as much.
+
+I am not speaking here of savages whose life is often only one degree
+above that of the apes in their woods. Consider, for instance, a
+porter in Naples or Venice (in the north of Europe solicitude for the
+winter months makes people more thoughtful and therefore reflective);
+look at the life he leads, from its beginning to its end:--driven by
+poverty; living on his physical strength; meeting the needs of every
+day, nay, of every hour, by hard work, great effort, constant tumult,
+want in all its forms, no care for the morrow; his only comfort
+rest after exhaustion; continuous quarreling; not a moment free for
+reflection; such sensual delights as a mild climate and only just
+sufficient food will permit of; and then, finally, as the metaphysical
+element, the crass superstition of his church; the whole forming a
+manner of life with only a low degree of consciousness, where a man
+hustles, or rather is hustled, through his existence. This restless
+and confused dream forms the life of how many millions!
+
+Such men _think_ only just so much as is necessary to carry out their
+will for the moment. They never reflect upon their life as a connected
+whole, let alone, then, upon existence in general; to a certain extent
+they may be said to exist without really knowing it. The existence of
+the mobsman or the slave who lives on in this unthinking way, stands
+very much nearer than ours to that of the brute, which is confined
+entirely to the present moment; but, for that very reason, it has also
+less of pain in it than ours. Nay, since all pleasure is in its nature
+negative, that is to say, consists in freedom from some form of misery
+or need, the constant and rapid interchange between setting about
+something and getting it done, which is the permanent accompaniment of
+the work they do, and then again the augmented form which this
+takes when they go from work to rest and the satisfaction of their
+needs--all this gives them a constant source of enjoyment; and the
+fact that it is much commoner to see happy faces amongst the poor than
+amongst the rich, is a sure proof that it is used to good advantage.
+
+Passing from this kind of man, consider, next, the sober, sensible
+merchant, who leads a life of speculation, thinks long over his plans
+and carries them out with great care, founds a house, and provides for
+his wife, his children and descendants; takes his share, too, in the
+life of a community. It is obvious that a man like this has a much
+higher degree of consciousness than the former, and so his existence
+has a higher degree of reality.
+
+Then look at the man of learning, who investigates, it may be, the
+history of the past. He will have reached the point at which a man
+becomes conscious of existence as a whole, sees beyond the period of
+his own life, beyond his own personal interests, thinking over the
+whole course of the world's history.
+
+Then, finally, look at the poet or the philosopher, in whom reflection
+has reached such a height, that, instead of being drawn on to
+investigate any one particular phenomenon of existence, he stands in
+amazement _before existence itself_, this great sphinx, and makes it
+his problem. In him consciousness has reached the degree of clearness
+at which it embraces the world itself: his intellect has completely
+abandoned its function as the servant of his will, and now holds the
+world before him; and the world calls upon him much more to examine
+and consider it, than to play a part in it himself. If, then, the
+degree of consciousness is the degree of reality, such a man will be
+said to exist most of all, and there will be sense and significance in
+so describing him.
+
+Between the two extremes here sketched, and the intervening stages,
+everyone will be able to find the place at which he himself stands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We know that man is in general superior to all other animals, and this
+is also the case in his capacity for being trained. Mohammedans are
+trained to pray with their faces turned towards Mecca, five times a
+day; and they never fail to do it. Christians are trained to cross
+themselves on certain occasions, to bow, and so on. Indeed, it may
+be said that religion is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of the art of training,
+because it trains people in the way they shall think: and, as is well
+known, you cannot begin the process too early. There is no absurdity
+so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if
+you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly
+repeating it with an air of great solemnity. For as in the case of
+animals, so in that of men, training is successful only when you begin
+in early youth.
+
+Noblemen and gentlemen are trained to hold nothing sacred but their
+word of honor--to maintain a zealous, rigid, and unshaken belief in
+the ridiculous code of chivalry; and if they are called upon to do so,
+to seal their belief by dying for it, and seriously to regard a king
+as a being of a higher order.
+
+Again, our expressions of politeness, the compliments we make, in
+particular, the respectful attentions we pay to ladies, are a matter
+of training; as also our esteem for good birth, rank, titles, and so
+on. Of the same character is the resentment we feel at any insult
+directed against us; and the measure of this resentment may be exactly
+determined by the nature of the insult. An Englishman, for instance,
+thinks it a deadly insult to be told that he is no gentleman, or,
+still worse, that he is a liar; a Frenchman has the same feeling if
+you call him a coward, and a German if you say he is stupid.
+
+There are many persons who are trained to be strictly honorable in
+regard to one particular matter, while they have little honor to boast
+of in anything else. Many a man, for instance, will not steal your
+money; but he will lay hands on everything of yours that he can enjoy
+without having to pay for it. A man of business will often deceive you
+without the slightest scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit
+a theft.
+
+Imagination is strong in a man when that particular function of the
+brain which enables him to observe is roused to activity without
+any necessary excitement of the senses. Accordingly, we find that
+imagination is active just in proportion as our senses are not excited
+by external objects. A long period of solitude, whether in prison or
+in a sick room; quiet, twilight, darkness--these are the things that
+promote its activity; and under their influence it comes into play of
+itself. On the other hand, when a great deal of material is presented
+to our faculties of observation, as happens on a journey, or in
+the hurly-burly of the world, or, again, in broad daylight, the
+imagination is idle, and, even though call may be made upon it,
+refuses to become active, as though it understood that that was not
+its proper time.
+
+However, if the imagination is to yield any real product, it must have
+received a great deal of material from the external world. This is
+the only way in which its storehouse can be filled. The phantasy is
+nourished much in the same way as the body, which is least capable
+of any work and enjoys doing nothing just in the very moment when it
+receives its food which it has to digest. And yet it is to this very
+food that it owes the power which it afterwards puts forth at the
+right time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past
+the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the
+other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true
+point at which it can remain at rest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By a process of contradiction, distance in space makes things look
+small, and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks
+so much better in a contracting mirror or in a _camera obscura_, than
+it is in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The
+scenes and events of long ago, and the persons who took part in them,
+wear a charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the
+outlines and takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys
+no such advantage, and so it always seems defective.
+
+And again, as regards space, small objects close to us look big, and
+if they are very close, we may be able to see nothing else, but when
+we go a little way off, they become minute and invisible. It is the
+same again as regards time. The little incidents and accidents of
+every day fill us with emotion, anxiety, annoyance, passion, as long
+as they are close to us, when they appear so big, so important, so
+serious; but as soon as they are borne down the restless stream of
+time, they lose what significance they had; we think no more of them
+and soon forget them altogether. They were big only because they were
+near.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Joy_ and _sorrow_ are not ideas of the mind, but affections of the
+will, and so they do not lie in the domain of memory. We cannot recall
+our joys and sorrows; by which I mean that we cannot renew them. We
+can recall only the _ideas_ that accompanied them; and, in particular,
+the things we were led to say; and these form a gauge of our feelings
+at the time. Hence our memory of joys and sorrows is always imperfect,
+and they become a matter of indifference to us as soon as they are
+over. This explains the vanity of the attempt, which we sometimes
+make, to revive the pleasures and the pains of the past. Pleasure and
+pain are essentially an affair of the will; and the will, as such, is
+not possessed of memory, which is a function of the intellect; and
+this in its turn gives out and takes in nothing but thoughts and
+ideas, which are not here in question.
+
+It is a curious fact that in bad days we can very vividly recall the
+good time that is now no more; but that in good days, we have only a
+very cold and imperfect memory of the bad.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We have a much better memory of actual objects or pictures than
+for mere ideas. Hence a good imagination makes it easier to learn
+languages; for by its aid, the new word is at once united with the
+actual object to which it refers; whereas, if there is no imagination,
+it is simply put on a parallel with the equivalent word in the mother
+tongue.
+
+Mnemonics should not only mean the art of keeping something indirectly
+in the memory by the use of some direct pun or witticism; it should,
+rather, be applied to a systematic theory of memory, and explain its
+several attributes by reference both to its real nature, and to the
+relation in which these attributes stand to one another.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are moments in life when our senses obtain a higher and rarer
+degree of clearness, apart from any particular occasion for it in the
+nature of our surroundings; and explicable, rather, on physiological
+grounds alone, as the result of some enhanced state of susceptibility,
+working from within outwards. Such moments remain indelibly impressed
+upon the memory, and preserve themselves in their individuality
+entire. We can assign no reason for it, nor explain why this among so
+many thousand moments like it should be specially remembered. It seems
+as much a matter of chance as when single specimens of a whole race of
+animals now extinct are discovered in the layers of a rock; or when,
+on opening a book, we light upon an insect accidentally crushed within
+the leaves. Memories of this kind are always sweet and pleasant.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It occasionally happens that, for no particular reason, long-forgotten
+scenes suddenly start up in the memory. This may in many cases be due
+to the action of some hardly perceptible odor, which accompanied those
+scenes and now recurs exactly same as before. For it is well known
+that the sense of smell is specially effective in awakening memories,
+and that in general it does not require much to rouse a train of
+ideas. And I may say, in passing, that the sense of sight is connected
+with the understanding,[1] the sense of hearing with the reason,[2]
+and, as we see in the present case, the sense of smell with the
+memory. Touch and Taste are more material and dependent upon contact.
+They have no ideal side.
+
+[Footnote 1:_Wierfache Wurzel_ § 21.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Parerga_ vol. ii, § 311.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It must also be reckoned among the peculiar attributes of memory
+that a slight state of intoxication often so greatly enhances the
+recollection of past times and scenes, that all the circumstances
+connected with them come back much more clearly than would be possible
+in a state of sobriety; but that, on the other hand, the recollection
+of what one said or did while the intoxication lasted, is more than
+usually imperfect; nay, that if one has been absolutely tipsy, it is
+gone altogether. We may say, then, that whilst intoxication enhances
+the memory for what is past, it allows it to remember little of the
+present.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive
+within. Contrarily, if they are active within, they do not care to be
+dragged out of themselves; it disturbs and impedes their thoughts in a
+way that is often most ruinous to them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am not surprised that some people are bored when they find
+themselves alone; for they cannot laugh if they are quite by
+themselves. The very idea of it seems folly to them.
+
+Are we, then, to look upon laughter as merely O signal for others--a
+mere sign, like a word? What makes it impossible for people to laugh
+when they are alone is nothing but want of imagination, dullness of
+mind generally--[Greek: anaisthaesia kai bradutaes psuchaes], as
+Theophrastus has it.[1] The lower animals never laugh, either alone
+or in company. Myson, the misanthropist, was once surprised by one of
+these people as he was laughing to himself. _Why do you laugh_? he
+asked; _there is no one with you. That is just why I am laughing_,
+said Myson.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Characters_, c. 27.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Natural _gesticulation_, such as commonly accompanies any lively talk,
+is a language of its own, more widespread, even, than the language of
+words--so far, I mean, as it is independent of words and alike in all
+nations. It is true that nations make use of it in proportion as they
+are vivacious, and that in particular cases, amongst the Italians, for
+instance, it is supplemented by certain peculiar gestures which are
+merely conventional, and therefore possessed of nothing more than a
+local value.
+
+In the universal use made of it, gesticulation has some analogy with
+logic and grammar, in that it has to do with the form, rather
+than with the matter of conversation; but on the other hand it is
+distinguishable from them by the fact that it has more of a moral than
+of an intellectual bearing; in other words, it reflects the movements
+of the will. As an accompaniment of conversation it is like the bass
+of a melody; and if, as in music, it keeps true to the progress of the
+treble, it serves to heighten the effect.
+
+In a conversation, the gesture depends upon the form in which the
+subject-matter is conveyed; and it is interesting to observe that,
+whatever that subject-matter may be, with a recurrence of the form,
+the very same gesture is repeated. So if I happen to see--from my
+window, say--two persons carrying on a lively conversation, without
+my being able to catch a word, I can, nevertheless, understand the
+general nature of it perfectly well; I mean, the kind of thing that is
+being said and the form it takes. There is no mistake about it. The
+speaker is arguing about something, advancing his reasons, then
+limiting their application, then driving them home and drawing the
+conclusion in triumph; or he is recounting his experiences, proving,
+perhaps, beyond the shadow of a doubt, how much he has been injured,
+but bringing the clearest and most damning evidence to show that
+his opponents were foolish and obstinate people who would not be
+convinced; or else he is telling of the splendid plan he laid, and how
+he carried it to a successful issue, or perhaps failed because
+the luck was against him; or, it may be, he is saying that he was
+completely at a loss to know what to do, or that he was quick in
+seeing some traps set for him, and that by insisting on his rights or
+by applying a little force, he succeeded in frustrating and punishing
+his enemies; and so on in hundreds of cases of a similar kind.
+
+Strictly speaking, however, what I get from gesticulation alone is
+an abstract notion of the essential drift of what is being said, and
+that, too, whether I judge from a moral or an intellectual point of
+view. It is the quintessence, the true substance of the conversation,
+and this remains identical, no matter what may have given rise to the
+conversation, or what it may be about; the relation between the two
+being that of a general idea or class-name to the individuals which it
+covers.
+
+As I have said, the most interesting and amusing part of the matter is
+the complete identity and solidarity of the gestures used to denote
+the same set of circumstances, even though by people of very different
+temperament; so that the gestures become exactly like words of
+a language, alike for every one, and subject only to such small
+modifications as depend upon variety of accent and education. And yet
+there can be no doubt but that these standing gestures, which every
+one uses, are the result of no convention or collusion. They are
+original and innate--a true language of nature; consolidated, it may
+be, by imitation and the influence of custom.
+
+It is well known that it is part of an actor's duty to make a careful
+study of gesture; and the same thing is true, to a somewhat smaller
+degree, of a public speaker. This study must consist chiefly in
+watching others and imitating their movements, for there are no
+abstract rules fairly applicable to the matter, with the exception
+of some very general leading principles, such as--to take an
+example--that the gesture must not follow the word, but rather
+come immediately before it, by way of announcing its approach and
+attracting the hearer's attention.
+
+Englishmen entertain a peculiar contempt for gesticulation, and look
+upon it as something vulgar and undignified. This seems to me a silly
+prejudice on their part, and the outcome of their general prudery. For
+here we have a language which nature has given to every one, and which
+every one understands; and to do away with and forbid it for no better
+reason than that it is opposed to that much-lauded thing, gentlemanly
+feeling, is a very questionable proceeding.
+
+
+
+
+ON EDUCATION.
+
+
+The human intellect is said to be so constituted that _general ideas_
+arise by abstraction from _particular observations_, and therefore
+come after them in point of time. If this is what actually occurs, as
+happens in the case of a man who has to depend solely upon his own
+experience for what he learns--who has no teacher and no book,--such
+a man knows quite well which of his particular observations belong to
+and are represented by each of his general ideas. He has a perfect
+acquaintance with both sides of his experience, and accordingly, he
+treats everything that comes in his way from a right standpoint. This
+might be called the _natural_ method of education.
+
+Contrarily, the _artificial_ method is to hear what other people say,
+to learn and to read, and so to get your head crammed full of general
+ideas before you have any sort of extended acquaintance with the world
+as it is, and as you may see it for yourself. You will be told that
+the particular observations which go to make these general ideas will
+come to you later on in the course of experience; but until that time
+arrives, you apply your general ideas wrongly, you judge men and
+things from a wrong standpoint, you see them in a wrong light, and
+treat them in a wrong way. So it is that education perverts the mind.
+
+This explains why it so frequently happens that, after a long course
+of learning and reading, we enter upon the world in our youth, partly
+with an artless ignorance of things, partly with wrong notions about
+them; so that our demeanor savors at one moment of a nervous anxiety,
+at another of a mistaken confidence. The reason of this is simply that
+our head is full of general ideas which we are now trying to turn to
+some use, but which we hardly ever apply rightly. This is the result
+of acting in direct opposition to the natural development of the mind
+by obtaining general ideas first, and particular observations last:
+it is putting the cart before the horse. Instead of developing the
+child's own faculties of discernment, and teaching it to judge and
+think for itself, the teacher uses all his energies to stuff its head
+full of the ready-made thoughts of other people. The mistaken views
+of life, which spring from a false application of general ideas, have
+afterwards to be corrected by long years of experience; and it is
+seldom that they are wholly corrected. This is why so few men of
+learning are possessed of common-sense, such as is often to be met
+with in people who have had no instruction at all.
+
+_To acquire a knowledge of the world_ might be defined as the aim
+of all education; and it follows from what I have said that special
+stress should be laid upon beginning to acquire this knowledge _at
+the right end_. As I have shown, this means, in the main, that the
+particular observation of a thing shall precede the general idea of
+it; further, that narrow and circumscribed ideas shall come before
+ideas of a wide range. It means, therefore, that the whole system of
+education shall follow in the steps that must have been taken by the
+ideas themselves in the course of their formation. But whenever any of
+these steps are skipped or left out, the instruction is defective, and
+the ideas obtained are false; and finally, a distorted view of the
+world arises, peculiar to the individual himself--a view such as
+almost everyone entertains for some time, and most men for as long as
+they live. No one can look into his own mind without seeing that it
+was only after reaching a very mature age, and in some cases when he
+least expected it, that he came to a right understanding or a clear
+view of many matters in his life, that, after all, were not very
+difficult or complicated. Up till then, they were points in his
+knowledge of the world which were still obscure, due to his having
+skipped some particular lesson in those early days of his education,
+whatever it may have been like--whether artificial and conventional,
+or of that natural kind which is based upon individual experience.
+
+It follows that an attempt should be made to find out the strictly
+natural course of knowledge, so that education may proceed
+methodically by keeping to it; and that children may become acquainted
+with the ways of the world, without getting wrong ideas into their
+heads, which very often cannot be got out again. If this plan were
+adopted, special care would have to be taken to prevent children
+from using words without clearly understanding their meaning and
+application. The fatal tendency to be satisfied with words instead of
+trying to understand things--to learn phrases by heart, so that
+they may prove a refuge in time of need, exists, as a rule, even in
+children; and the tendency lasts on into manhood, making the knowledge
+of many learned persons to consist in mere verbiage.
+
+However, the main endeavor must always be to let particular
+observations precede general ideas, and not _vice versa_, as is
+usually and unfortunately the case; as though a child should come
+feet foremost into the world, or a verse be begun by writing down the
+rhyme! The ordinary method is to imprint ideas and opinions, in the
+strict sense of the word, _prejudices_, on the mind of the child,
+before it has had any but a very few particular observations. It is
+thus that he afterwards comes to view the world and gather experience
+through the medium of those ready-made ideas, rather than to let his
+ideas be formed for him out of his own experience of life, as they
+ought to be.
+
+A man sees a great many things when he looks at the world for himself,
+and he sees them from many sides; but this method of learning is not
+nearly so short or so quick as the method which employs abstract
+ideas and makes hasty generalizations about everything. Experience,
+therefore, will be a long time in correcting preconceived ideas, or
+perhaps never bring its task to an end; for wherever a man finds that
+the aspect of things seems to contradict the general ideas he has
+formed, he will begin by rejecting the evidence it offers as partial
+and one-sided; nay, he will shut his eyes to it altogether and deny
+that it stands in any contradiction at all with his preconceived
+notions, in order that he may thus preserve them uninjured. So it is
+that many a man carries about a burden of wrong notions all his life
+long--crotchets, whims, fancies, prejudices, which at last become
+fixed ideas. The fact is that he has never tried to form his
+fundamental ideas for himself out of his own experience of life, his
+own way of looking at the world, because he has taken over his ideas
+ready-made from other people; and this it is that makes him--as it
+makes how many others!--so shallow and superficial.
+
+Instead of that method of instruction, care should be taken to educate
+children on the natural lines. No idea should ever be established in a
+child's mind otherwise than by what the child can see for itself, or
+at any rate it should be verified by the same means; and the result of
+this would be that the child's ideas, if few, would be well-grounded
+and accurate. It would learn how to measure things by its own standard
+rather than by another's; and so it would escape a thousand strange
+fancies and prejudices, and not need to have them eradicated by the
+lessons it will subsequently be taught in the school of life. The
+child would, in this way, have its mind once for all habituated
+to clear views and thorough-going knowledge; it would use its own
+judgment and take an unbiased estimate of things.
+
+And, in general, children should not form their notions of what life
+is like from the copy before they have learned it from the original,
+to whatever aspect of it their attention may be directed. Instead,
+therefore, of hastening to place _books_, and books alone, in their
+hands, let them be made acquainted, step by step, with _things_--with
+the actual circumstances of human life. And above all let care be
+taken to bring them to a clear and objective view of the world as it
+is, to educate them always to derive their ideas directly from real
+life, and to shape them in conformity with it--not to fetch them from
+other sources, such as books, fairy tales, or what people say--then
+to apply them ready-made to real life. For this will mean that their
+heads are full of wrong notions, and that they will either see things
+in a false light or try in vain to _remodel the world_ to suit their
+views, and so enter upon false paths; and that, too, whether they are
+only constructing theories of life or engaged in the actual business
+of it. It is incredible how much harm is done when the seeds of wrong
+notions are laid in the mind in those early years, later on to bear a
+crop of prejudice; for the subsequent lessons, which are learned from
+real life in the world have to be devoted mainly to their extirpation.
+_To unlearn the evil_ was the answer, according to Diogenes
+Laertius,[1] Antisthenes gave, when he was asked what branch of
+knowledge was most necessary; and we can see what he meant.
+
+[Footnote 1: vi. 7.]
+
+No child under the age of fifteen should receive instruction in
+subjects which may possibly be the vehicle of serious error, such as
+philosophy, religion, or any other branch of knowledge where it is
+necessary to take large views; because wrong notions imbibed early can
+seldom be rooted out, and of all the intellectual faculties, judgment
+is the last to arrive at maturity. The child should give its attention
+either to subjects where no error is possible at all, such as
+mathematics, or to those in which there is no particular danger in
+making a mistake, such as languages, natural science, history and so
+on. And in general, the branches of knowledge which are to be studied
+at any period of life should be such as the mind is equal to at that
+period and can perfectly understand. Childhood and youth form the time
+for collecting materials, for getting a special and thorough knowledge
+of the individual and particular things. In those years it is too
+early to form views on a large scale; and ultimate explanations must
+be put off to a later date. The faculty of judgment, which cannot come
+into play without mature experience, should be left to itself; and
+care should be taken not to anticipate its action by inculcating
+prejudice, which will paralyze it for ever.
+
+On the other hand, the memory should be specially taxed in youth,
+since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in
+choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost care
+and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are
+never forgotten. This precious soil must therefore be cultivated so as
+to bear as much fruit as possible. If you think how deeply rooted in
+your memory are those persons whom you knew in the first twelve years
+of your life, how indelible the impression made upon you by the events
+of those years, how clear your recollection of most of the things that
+happened to you then, most of what was told or taught you, it will
+seem a natural thing to take the susceptibility and tenacity of the
+mind at that period as the ground-work of education. This may be done
+by a strict observance of method, and a systematic regulation of the
+impressions which the mind is to receive.
+
+But the years of youth allotted to a man are short, and memory is, in
+general, bound within narrow limits; still more so, the memory of any
+one individual. Since this is the case, it is all-important to fill
+the memory with what is essential and material in any branch of
+knowledge, to the exclusion of everything else. The decision as to
+what is essential and material should rest with the masterminds in
+every department of thought; their choice should be made after the
+most mature deliberation, and the outcome of it fixed and determined.
+Such a choice would have to proceed by sifting the things which it
+is necessary and important for a man to know in general, and then,
+necessary and important for him to know in any particular business
+or calling. Knowledge of the first kind would have to be classified,
+after an encyclopaedic fashion, in graduated courses, adapted to the
+degree of general culture which a man may be expected to have in the
+circumstances in which he is placed; beginning with a course limited
+to the necessary requirements of primary education, and extending
+upwards to the subjects treated of in all the branches of
+philosophical thought. The regulation of the second kind of knowledge
+would be left to those who had shown genuine mastery in the several
+departments into which it is divided; and the whole system would
+provide an elaborate rule or canon for intellectual education, which
+would, of course, have to be revised every ten years. Some such
+arrangement as this would employ the youthful power of the memory to
+best advantage, and supply excellent working material to the faculty
+of judgment, when it made its appearance later on.
+
+A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, it has
+reached the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an
+individual, is capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is
+established between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he
+has actually perceived for himself. This will mean that each of
+his abstract ideas rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of
+observation, which alone endows it with any real value; and also
+that he is able to place every observation he makes under the right
+abstract idea which belongs to it. Maturity is the work of experience
+alone; and therefore it requires time. The knowledge we derive from
+our own observation is usually distinct from that which we acquire
+through the medium of abstract ideas; the one coming to us in the
+natural way, the other by what people tell us, and the course of
+instruction we receive, whether it is good or bad. The result is, that
+in youth there is generally very little agreement or correspondence
+between our abstract ideas, which are merely phrases in the mind, and
+that real knowledge which we have obtained by our own observation. It
+is only later on that a gradual approach takes place between these two
+kinds of knowledge, accompanied by a mutual correction of error; and
+knowledge is not mature until this coalition is accomplished. This
+maturity or perfection of knowledge is something quite independent of
+another kind of perfection, which may be of a high or a low order--the
+perfection, I mean, to which a man may bring his own individual
+faculties; which is measured, not by any correspondence between the
+two kinds of knowledge, but by the degree of intensity which each kind
+attains.
+
+For the practical man the most needful thing is to acquire an accurate
+and profound knowledge of _the ways of the world_. But this, though
+the most needful, is also the most wearisome of all studies, as a man
+may reach a great age without coming to the end of his task; whereas,
+in the domain of the sciences, he masters the more important facts
+when he is still young. In acquiring that knowledge of the world, it
+is while he is a novice, namely, in boyhood and in youth, that the
+first and hardest lessons are put before him; but it often happens
+that even in later years there is still a great deal to be learned.
+
+The study is difficult enough in itself; but the difficulty is doubled
+by _novels_, which represent a state of things in life and the world,
+such as, in fact, does not exist. Youth is credulous, and accepts
+these views of life, which then become part and parcel of the mind; so
+that, instead of a merely negative condition of ignorance, you have
+positive error--a whole tissue of false notions to start with; and at
+a later date these actually spoil the schooling of experience, and put
+a wrong construction on the lessons it teaches. If, before this,
+the youth had no light at all to guide him, he is now misled by a
+will-o'-the-wisp; still more often is this the case with a girl.
+They have both had a false view of things foisted on them by reading
+novels; and expectations have been aroused which can never be
+fulfilled. This generally exercises a baneful influence on their whole
+life. In this respect those whose youth has allowed them no time or
+opportunity for reading novels--those who work with their hands and
+the like--are in a position of decided advantage. There are a few
+novels to which this reproach cannot be addressed--nay, which have an
+effect the contrary of bad. First and foremost, to give an example,
+_Gil Blas_, and the other works of Le Sage (or rather their Spanish
+originals); further, _The Vicar of Wakefield_, and, to some extent Sir
+Walter Scott's novels. _Don Quixote_ may be regarded as a satirical
+exhibition of the error to which I am referring.
+
+
+
+
+OF WOMEN.
+
+
+Schiller's poem in honor of women, _Würde der Frauen_, is the
+result of much careful thought, and it appeals to the reader by its
+antithetic style and its use of contrast; but as an expression of the
+true praise which should be accorded to them, it is, I think, inferior
+to these few words of Jouy's: _Without women, the beginning of our
+life would be helpless; the middle, devoid of pleasure; and the end,
+of consolation_. The same thing is more feelingly expressed by Byron
+in _Sardanapalus_:
+
+                                                 _The very first
+  Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
+  Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
+  Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
+  Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
+  When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
+  Of watching the last hour of him who led them_.
+
+  (Act I Scene 2.)
+
+These two passages indicate the right standpoint for the appreciation
+of women.
+
+You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that
+woman is not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of
+the body. She pays the debt of life not by what she does, but by what
+she suffers; by the pains of child-bearing and care for the child,
+and by submission to her husband, to whom she should be a patient and
+cheering companion. The keenest sorrows and joys are not for her, nor
+is she called upon to display a great deal of strength. The current
+of her life should be more gentle, peaceful and trivial than man's,
+without being essentially happier or unhappier.
+
+Women are directly fitted for acting as the nurses and teachers of
+our early childhood by the fact that they are themselves childish,
+frivolous and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all
+their life long--a kind of intermediate stage between the child and
+the full-grown man, who is man in the strict sense of the word. See
+how a girl will fondle a child for days together, dance with it and
+sing to it; and then think what a man, with the best will in the
+world, could do if he were put in her place.
+
+With young girls Nature seems to have had in view what, in the
+language of the drama, is called _a striking effect_; as for a few
+years she dowers them with a wealth of beauty and is lavish in her
+gift of charm, at the expense of all the rest of their life; so that
+during those years they may capture the fantasy of some man to such a
+degree that he is hurried away into undertaking the honorable care of
+them, in some form or other, as long as they live--a step for which
+there would not appear to be any sufficient warranty if reason only
+directed his thoughts. Accordingly, Nature has equipped woman, as she
+does all her creatures, with the weapons and implements requisite
+for the safeguarding of her existence, and for just as long as it is
+necessary for her to have them. Here, as elsewhere, Nature proceeds
+with her usual economy; for just as the female ant, after fecundation,
+loses her wings, which are then superfluous, nay, actually a danger
+to the business of breeding; so, after giving birth to one or two
+children, a woman generally loses her beauty; probably, indeed, for
+similar reasons.
+
+And so we find that young girls, in their hearts, look upon domestic
+affairs or work of any kind as of secondary importance, if not
+actually as a mere jest. The only business that really claims their
+earnest attention is love, making conquests, and everything connected
+with this--dress, dancing, and so on.
+
+The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is
+in arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning
+powers and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a
+woman at eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only
+reason of a sort--very niggard in its dimensions. That is why women
+remain children their whole life long; never seeing anything but
+what is quite close to them, cleaving to the present moment, taking
+appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first
+importance. For it is by virtue of his reasoning faculty that man does
+not live in the present only, like the brute, but looks about him and
+considers the past and the future; and this is the origin of prudence,
+as well as of that care and anxiety which so many people exhibit. Both
+the advantages and the disadvantages which this involves, are shared
+in by the woman to a smaller extent because of her weaker power
+of reasoning. She may, in fact, be described as intellectually
+short-sighted, because, while she has an intuitive understanding of
+what lies quite close to her, her field of vision is narrow and does
+not reach to what is remote; so that things which are absent, or past,
+or to come, have much less effect upon women than upon men. This is
+the reason why women are more often inclined to be extravagant, and
+sometimes carry their inclination to a length that borders upon
+madness. In their hearts, women think that it is men's business
+to earn money and theirs to spend it--- if possible during their
+husband's life, but, at any rate, after his death. The very fact
+that their husband hands them over his earnings for purposes of
+housekeeping, strengthens them in this belief.
+
+However many disadvantages all this may involve, there is at least
+this to be said in its favor; that the woman lives more in the present
+than the man, and that, if the present is at all tolerable, she enjoys
+it more eagerly. This is the source of that cheerfulness which
+is peculiar to women, fitting her to amuse man in his hours of
+recreation, and, in case of need, to console him when he is borne down
+by the weight of his cares.
+
+It is by no means a bad plan to consult women in matters of
+difficulty, as the Germans used to do in ancient times; for their way
+of looking at things is quite different from ours, chiefly in the
+fact that they like to take the shortest way to their goal, and, in
+general, manage to fix their eyes upon what lies before them; while
+we, as a rule, see far beyond it, just because it is in front of our
+noses. In cases like this, we need to be brought back to the right
+standpoint, so as to recover the near and simple view.
+
+Then, again, women are decidedly more sober in their judgment than
+we are, so that they do not see more in things than is really there;
+whilst, if our passions are aroused, we are apt to see things in an
+exaggerated way, or imagine what does not exist.
+
+The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why it is that
+women show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men do, and so treat
+them with more kindness and interest; and why it is that, on the
+contrary, they are inferior to men in point of justice, and less
+honorable and conscientious. For it is just because their reasoning
+power is weak that present circumstances have such a hold over them,
+and those concrete things, which lie directly before their eyes,
+exercise a power which is seldom counteracted to any extent by
+abstract principles of thought, by fixed rules of conduct, firm
+resolutions, or, in general, by consideration for the past and the
+future, or regard for what is absent and remote. Accordingly, they
+possess the first and main elements that go to make a virtuous
+character, but they are deficient in those secondary qualities which
+are often a necessary instrument in the formation of it.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: In this respect they may be compared to an animal
+organism which contains a liver but no gall-bladder. Here let me refer
+to what I have said in my treatise on _The Foundation of Morals_, §
+17.]
+
+Hence, it will be found that the fundamental fault of the female
+character is that it has _no sense of justice_. This is mainly due to
+the fact, already mentioned, that women are defective in the powers of
+reasoning and deliberation; but it is also traceable to the position
+which Nature has assigned to them as the weaker sex. They are
+dependent, not upon strength, but upon craft; and hence their
+instinctive capacity for cunning, and their ineradicable tendency to
+say what is not true. For as lions are provided with claws and teeth,
+and elephants and boars with tusks, bulls with horns, and cuttle fish
+with its clouds of inky fluid, so Nature has equipped woman, for her
+defence and protection, with the arts of dissimulation; and all the
+power which Nature has conferred upon man in the shape of physical
+strength and reason, has been bestowed upon women in this form. Hence,
+dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a quality of the
+stupid as of the clever. It is as natural for them to make use of it
+on every occasion as it is for those animals to employ their means of
+defence when they are attacked; they have a feeling that in doing so
+they are only within their rights. Therefore a woman who is perfectly
+truthful and not given to dissimulation is perhaps an impossibility,
+and for this very reason they are so quick at seeing through
+dissimulation in others that it is not a wise thing to attempt it with
+them. But this fundamental defect which I have stated, with all
+that it entails, gives rise to falsity, faithlessness, treachery,
+ingratitude, and so on. Perjury in a court of justice is more
+often committed by women than by men. It may, indeed, be generally
+questioned whether women ought to be sworn in at all. From time to
+time one finds repeated cases everywhere of ladies, who want for
+nothing, taking things from shop-counters when no one is looking, and
+making off with them.
+
+Nature has appointed that the propagation of the species shall be the
+business of men who are young, strong and handsome; so that the race
+may not degenerate. This is the firm will and purpose of Nature in
+regard to the species, and it finds its expression in the passions of
+women. There is no law that is older or more powerful than this. Woe,
+then, to the man who sets up claims and interests that will conflict
+with it; whatever he may say and do, they will be unmercifully crushed
+at the first serious encounter. For the innate rule that governs
+women's conduct, though it is secret and unformulated, nay,
+unconscious in its working, is this: _We are justified in deceiving
+those who think they have acquired rights over the species by paying
+little attention to the individual, that is, to us. The constitution
+and, therefore, the welfare of the species have been placed in our
+hands and committed to our care, through the control we obtain over
+the next generation, which proceeds from us; let us discharge our
+duties conscientiously_. But women have no abstract knowledge of this
+leading principle; they are conscious of it only as a concrete fact;
+and they have no other method of giving expression to it than the
+way in which they act when the opportunity arrives. And then their
+conscience does not trouble them so much as we fancy; for in the
+darkest recesses of their heart, they are aware that in committing a
+breach of their duty towards the individual, they have all the
+better fulfilled their duty towards the species, which is infinitely
+greater.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: A more detailed discussion of the matter in question may
+be found in my chief work, _Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol.
+ii, ch. 44.]
+
+And since women exist in the main solely for the propagation of the
+species, and are not destined for anything else, they live, as a rule,
+more for the species than for the individual, and in their hearts
+take the affairs of the species more seriously than those of the
+individual. This gives their whole life and being a certain levity;
+the general bent of their character is in a direction fundamentally
+different from that of man; and it is this to which produces that
+discord in married life which is so frequent, and almost the normal
+state.
+
+The natural feeling between men is mere indifference, but
+between women it is actual enmity. The reason of this is that
+trade-jealousy--_odium figulinum_--which, in the case of men does not
+go beyond the confines of their own particular pursuit; but, with
+women, embraces the whole sex; since they have only one kind of
+business. Even when they meet in the street, women look at one another
+like Guelphs and Ghibellines. And it is a patent fact that when two
+women make first acquaintance with each other, they behave with more
+constraint and dissimulation than two men would show in a like case;
+and hence it is that an exchange of compliments between two women is a
+much more ridiculous proceeding than between two men. Further, whilst
+a man will, as a general rule, always preserve a certain amount of
+consideration and humanity in speaking to others, even to those who
+are in a very inferior position, it is intolerable to see how proudly
+and disdainfully a fine lady will generally behave towards one who is
+in a lower social rank (I do not mean a woman who is in her service),
+whenever she speaks to her. The reason of this may be that, with
+women, differences of rank are much more precarious than with us;
+because, while a hundred considerations carry weight in our case,
+in theirs there is only one, namely, with which man they have found
+favor; as also that they stand in much nearer relations with one
+another than men do, in consequence of the one-sided nature of their
+calling. This makes them endeavor to lay stress upon differences of
+rank.
+
+It is only the man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulses
+that could give the name of _the fair sex_ to that under-sized,
+narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged race; for the whole
+beauty of the sex is bound up with this impulse. Instead of calling
+them beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as
+the un-aesthetic sex. Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine
+art, have they really and truly any sense or susceptibility; it is a
+mere mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their
+endeavor to please. Hence, as a result of this, they are incapable of
+taking a _purely objective interest_ in anything; and the reason of it
+seems to me to be as follows. A man tries to acquire _direct_ mastery
+over things, either by understanding them, or by forcing them to do
+his will. But a woman is always and everywhere reduced to obtaining
+this mastery _indirectly_, namely, through a man; and whatever direct
+mastery she may have is entirely confined to him. And so it lies in
+woman's nature to look upon everything only as a means for conquering
+man; and if she takes an interest in anything else, it is simulated--a
+mere roundabout way of gaining her ends by coquetry, and feigning what
+she does not feel. Hence, even Rousseau declared: _Women have, in
+general, no love for any art; they have no proper knowledge of any;
+and they have no genius_.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Lettre à d'Alembert, Note xx.]
+
+No one who sees at all below the surface can have failed to remark the
+same thing. You need only observe the kind of attention women bestow
+upon a concert, an opera, or a play--the childish simplicity, for
+example, with which they keep on chattering during the finest passages
+in the greatest masterpieces. If it is true that the Greeks excluded
+women from their theatres they were quite right in what they did;
+at any rate you would have been able to hear what was said upon the
+stage. In our day, besides, or in lieu of saying, _Let a woman keep
+silence in the church_, it would be much to the point to say _Let a
+woman keep silence in the theatre_. This might, perhaps, be put up in
+big letters on the curtain.
+
+And you cannot expect anything else of women if you consider that the
+most distinguished intellects among the whole sex have never managed
+to produce a single achievement in the fine arts that is really great,
+genuine, and original; or given to the world any work of permanent
+value in any sphere. This is most strikingly shown in regard to
+painting, where mastery of technique is at least as much within their
+power as within ours--and hence they are diligent in cultivating it;
+but still, they have not a single great painting to boast of, just
+because they are deficient in that objectivity of mind which is so
+directly indispensable in painting. They never get beyond a subjective
+point of view. It is quite in keeping with this that ordinary women
+have no real susceptibility for art at all; for Nature proceeds in
+strict sequence--_non facit saltum_. And Huarte[1] in his _Examen de
+ingenios para las scienzias_--a book which has been famous for
+three hundred years--denies women the possession of all the higher
+faculties. The case is not altered by particular and partial
+exceptions; taken as a whole, women are, and remain, thorough-going
+Philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd arrangement
+which allows them to share the rank and title of their husbands they
+are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. And, further, it is
+just because they are Philistines that modern society, where they
+take the lead and set the tone, is in such a bad way. Napoleon's
+saying--that _women have no rank_--should be adopted as the right
+standpoint in determining their position in society; and as regards
+their other qualities Chamfort[2] makes the very true remark: _They
+are made to trade with our own weaknesses and our follies, but not
+with our reason. The sympathies that exist between them and men are
+skin-deep only, and do not touch the mind or the feelings or the
+character_. They form the _sexus sequior_--the second sex, inferior in
+every respect to the first; their infirmities should be treated
+with consideration; but to show them great reverence is extremely
+ridiculous, and lowers us in their eyes. When Nature made two
+divisions of the human race, she did not draw the line exactly through
+the middle. These divisions are polar and opposed to each other, it is
+true; but the difference between them is not qualitative merely, it is
+also quantitative.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--- Juan Huarte (1520?-1590)
+practised as a physician at Madrid. The work cited by Schopenhauer is
+known, and has been translated into many languages.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Translator's Note_.--See _Counsels and Maxims_, p. 12,
+Note.]
+
+This is just the view which the ancients took of woman, and the view
+which people in the East take now; and their judgment as to her proper
+position is much more correct than ours, with our old French notions
+of gallantry and our preposterous system of reverence--that highest
+product of Teutonico-Christian stupidity. These notions have served
+only to make women more arrogant and overbearing; so that one is
+occasionally reminded of the holy apes in Benares, who in the
+consciousness of their sanctity and inviolable position, think they
+can do exactly as they please.
+
+But in the West, the woman, and especially the _lady_, finds herself
+in a false position; for woman, rightly called by the ancients,
+_sexus sequior_, is by no means fit to be the object of our honor and
+veneration, or to hold her head higher than man and be on equal terms
+with him. The consequences of this false position are sufficiently
+obvious. Accordingly, it would be a very desirable thing if this
+Number-Two of the human race were in Europe also relegated to her
+natural place, and an end put to that lady nuisance, which not only
+moves all Asia to laughter, but would have been ridiculed by Greece
+and Rome as well. It is impossible to calculate the good effects which
+such a change would bring about in our social, civil and political
+arrangements. There would be no necessity for the Salic law: it would
+be a superfluous truism. In Europe the _lady_, strictly so-called, is
+a being who should not exist at all; she should be either a housewife
+or a girl who hopes to become one; and she should be brought up, not
+to be arrogant, but to be thrifty and submissive. It is just because
+there are such people as _ladies_ in Europe that the women of the
+lower classes, that is to say, the great majority of the sex, are much
+more unhappy than they are in the East. And even Lord Byron says:
+_Thought of the state of women under the ancient Greeks--convenient
+enough. Present state, a remnant of the barbarism of the chivalric
+and the feudal ages--artificial and unnatural. They ought to mind
+home--and be well fed and clothed--but not mixed in society. Well
+educated, too, in religion--but to read neither poetry nor politics--
+nothing but books of piety and cookery. Music--drawing--dancing--also
+a little gardening and ploughing now and then. I have seen them
+mending the roads in Epirus with good success. Why not, as well as
+hay-making and milking_?
+
+The laws of marriage prevailing in Europe consider the woman as the
+equivalent of the man--start, that is to say, from a wrong position.
+In our part of the world where monogamy is the rule, to marry means to
+halve one's rights and double one's duties. Now, when the laws gave
+women equal rights with man, they ought to have also endowed her with
+a masculine intellect. But the fact is, that just in proportion as
+the honors and privileges which the laws accord to women, exceed the
+amount which nature gives, is there a diminution in the number
+of women who really participate in these privileges; and all the
+remainder are deprived of their natural rights by just so much as is
+given to the others over and above their share. For the institution of
+monogamy, and the laws of marriage which it entails, bestow upon
+the woman an unnatural position of privilege, by considering her
+throughout as the full equivalent of the man, which is by no means
+the case; and seeing this, men who are shrewd and prudent very often
+scruple to make so great a sacrifice and to acquiesce in so unfair an
+arrangement.
+
+Consequently, whilst among polygamous nations every woman is provided
+for, where monogamy prevails the number of married women is limited;
+and there remains over a large number of women without stay or
+support, who, in the upper classes, vegetate as useless old maids, and
+in the lower succumb to hard work for which they are not suited; or
+else become _filles de joie_, whose life is as destitute of joy as it
+is of honor. But under the circumstances they become a necessity; and
+their position is openly recognized as serving the special end of
+warding off temptation from those women favored by fate, who have
+found, or may hope to find, husbands. In London alone there are 80,000
+prostitutes. What are they but the women, who, under the institution
+of monogamy have come off worse? Theirs is a dreadful fate: they are
+human sacrifices offered up on the altar of monogamy. The women whose
+wretched position is here described are the inevitable set-off to the
+European lady with her arrogance and pretension. Polygamy is therefore
+a real benefit to the female sex if it is taken as a whole. And, from
+another point of view, there is no true reason why a man whose wife
+suffers from chronic illness, or remains barren, or has gradually
+become too old for him, should not take a second. The motives which
+induce so many people to become converts to Mormonism[1] appear to
+be just those which militate against the unnatural institution of
+monogamy.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The Mormons have recently given up
+polygamy, and received the American franchise in its stead.]
+
+Moreover, the bestowal of unnatural rights upon women has imposed upon
+them unnatural duties, and, nevertheless, a breach of these duties
+makes them unhappy. Let me explain. A man may often think that his
+social or financial position will suffer if he marries, unless he
+makes some brilliant alliance. His desire will then be to win a woman
+of his own choice under conditions other than those of marriage, such
+as will secure her position and that of the children. However fair,
+reasonable, fit and proper these conditions may be, and the woman
+consents by foregoing that undue amount of privilege which marriage
+alone can bestow, she to some extent loses her honor, because marriage
+is the basis of civic society; and she will lead an unhappy life,
+since human nature is so constituted that we pay an attention to the
+opinion of other people which is out of all proportion to its value.
+On the other hand, if she does not consent, she runs the risk either
+of having to be given in marriage to a man whom she does not like, or
+of being landed high and dry as an old maid; for the period during
+which she has a chance of being settled for life is very short. And
+in view of this aspect of the institution of monogamy, Thomasius'
+profoundly learned treatise, _de Concubinatu_, is well worth reading;
+for it shows that, amongst all nations and in all ages, down to the
+Lutheran Reformation, concubinage was permitted; nay, that it was an
+institution which was to a certain extent actually recognized by law,
+and attended with no dishonor. It was only the Lutheran Reformation
+that degraded it from this position. It was seen to be a further
+justification for the marriage of the clergy; and then, after that,
+the Catholic Church did not dare to remain behind-hand in the matter.
+
+There is no use arguing about polygamy; it must be taken as _de facto_
+existing everywhere, and the only question is as to how it shall be
+regulated. Where are there, then, any real monogamists? We all live,
+at any rate, for a time, and most of us, always, in polygamy. And so,
+since every man needs many women, there is nothing fairer than to
+allow him, nay, to make it incumbent upon him, to provide for many
+women. This will reduce woman to her true and natural position as
+a subordinate being; and the _lady_--that monster of European
+civilization and Teutonico-Christian stupidity--will disappear from
+the world, leaving only _women_, but no more _unhappy women_, of whom
+Europe is now full.
+
+In India, no woman is ever independent, but in accordance with the law
+of Mamu,[1] she stands under the control of her father, her husband,
+her brother or her son. It is, to be sure, a revolting thing that a
+widow should immolate herself upon her husband's funeral pyre; but it
+is also revolting that she should spend her husband's money with her
+paramours--the money for which he toiled his whole life long, in the
+consoling belief that he was providing for his children. Happy are
+those who have kept the middle course--_medium tenuere beati_.
+
+[Footnote 1: Ch. V., v. 148.]
+
+The first love of a mother for her child is, with the lower animals as
+with men, of a purely _instinctive_ character, and so it ceases when
+the child is no longer in a physically helpless condition. After that,
+the first love should give way to one that is based on habit and
+reason; but this often fails to make its appearance, especially where
+the mother did not love the father. The love of a father for his child
+is of a different order, and more likely to last; because it has its
+foundation in the fact that in the child he recognizes his own inner
+self; that is to say, his love for it is metaphysical in its origin.
+
+In almost all nations, whether of the ancient or the modern world,
+even amongst the Hottentots,[1] property is inherited by the male
+descendants alone; it is only in Europe that a departure has taken
+place; but not amongst the nobility, however. That the property which
+has cost men long years of toil and effort, and been won with so much
+difficulty, should afterwards come into the hands of women, who then,
+in their lack of reason, squander it in a short time, or otherwise
+fool it away, is a grievance and a wrong as serious as it is common,
+which should be prevented by limiting the right of women to inherit.
+In my opinion, the best arrangement would be that by which women,
+whether widows or daughters, should never receive anything beyond the
+interest for life on property secured by mortgage, and in no case the
+property itself, or the capital, except where all male descendants
+fail. The people who make money are men, not women; and it follows
+from this that women are neither justified in having unconditional
+possession of it, nor fit persons to be entrusted with its
+administration. When wealth, in any true sense of the word, that is to
+say, funds, houses or land, is to go to them as an inheritance they
+should never be allowed the free disposition of it. In their case a
+guardian should always be appointed; and hence they should never be
+given the free control of their own children, wherever it can be
+avoided. The vanity of women, even though it should not prove to be
+greater than that of men, has this much danger in it, that it takes an
+entirely material direction. They are vain, I mean, of their personal
+beauty, and then of finery, show and magnificence. That is just why
+they are so much in their element in society. It is this, too, which
+makes them so inclined to be extravagant, all the more as their
+reasoning power is low. Accordingly we find an ancient writer
+describing woman as in general of an extravagant nature--[Greek: Gynae
+to synolon esti dapanaeron Physei][2] But with men vanity often takes
+the direction of non-material advantages, such as intellect, learning,
+courage.
+
+[Footnote 1: Leroy, _Lettres philosophiques sur l'intelligence et la
+perfectibilité des animaux, avec quelques lettres sur l'homme_, p.
+298, Paris, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Brunck's _Gnomici poetae graeci_, v. 115.]
+
+In the _Politics_[1] Aristotle explains the great disadvantage which
+accrued to the Spartans from the fact that they conceded too much to
+their women, by giving them the right of inheritance and dower, and a
+great amount of independence; and he shows how much this contributed
+to Sparta's fall. May it not be the case in France that the influence
+of women, which went on increasing steadily from the time of Louis
+XIII., was to blame for that gradual corruption of the Court and the
+Government, which brought about the Revolution of 1789, of which all
+subsequent disturbances have been the fruit? However that may be, the
+false position which women occupy, demonstrated as it is, in the most
+glaring way, by the institution of the _lady_, is a fundamental defect
+in our social scheme, and this defect, proceeding from the very heart
+of it, must spread its baneful influence in all directions.
+
+[Footnote 1: Bk. I, ch. 9.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That woman is by nature meant to obey may be seen by the fact that
+every woman who is placed in the unnatural position of complete
+independence, immediately attaches herself to some man, by whom she
+allows herself to be guided and ruled. It is because she needs a lord
+and master. If she is young, it will be a lover; if she is old, a
+priest.
+
+
+
+
+ON NOISE.
+
+
+Kant wrote a treatise on _The Vital Powers_. I should prefer to write
+a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes
+the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved
+a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is
+true--nay, a great many people--who smile at such things, because they
+are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are
+also not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a
+word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that
+the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On
+the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the
+biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their
+personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the
+case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it
+should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the
+matter, it is only for want of an opportunity.
+
+This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a
+large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it
+had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers,
+loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of
+an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its
+attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its
+superiority depends upon its power of concentration--of bringing all
+its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave
+mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon
+it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is
+why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike
+to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and
+distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that
+violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are
+not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and
+intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, _Never
+Interrupt_! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent
+of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but
+also a disruption of thought. Of course, where there is nothing to
+interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it
+happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and
+distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All
+I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking--just as though I
+were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what
+it is. Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most
+inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips--a
+truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets
+of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts
+an end to all quiet thought. That this cracking of whips should be
+allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless
+and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an
+idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden,
+sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of
+reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it
+must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business
+of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker
+its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder,
+much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound,
+be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed
+cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your
+head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a
+sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.
+
+With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really
+cannot see why a fellow who is taking away a wagon-load of gravel or
+dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts
+which may happen to be springing up in ten thousand heads--the number
+he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the
+town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are
+horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the
+crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every
+pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy.
+If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making
+this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite
+the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only
+unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon
+the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it,
+the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted
+feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any
+faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless
+cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is
+proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to
+give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much
+more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to
+crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its
+presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise.
+For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing,
+animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive
+to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances
+of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.
+
+It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure
+wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of
+the community who work with their heads by those who work with their
+hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of
+barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by
+a police-notice to the effect that every lash shall have a knot at the
+end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to
+the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any
+kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow
+who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed
+post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards
+long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and
+receive five really good blows with a stick.
+
+All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting
+to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment,
+will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more
+disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see
+a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses,
+and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch
+become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this
+practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere
+treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be
+the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of
+consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters,
+porters, messengers--these are the beasts of burden amongst mankind;
+by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with
+forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of
+the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many
+great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to
+the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should
+soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association
+of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.
+
+Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations
+will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may
+take example by it and follow suit.[1] Meanwhile, I may quote what
+Thomas Hood says of them[2]: _For a musical nation, they are the most
+noisy I ever met with_. That they are so is due to the fact, not that
+they are more fond of making a noise than other people--they would
+deny it if you asked them--but that their senses are obtuse;
+consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It
+does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do
+not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The
+general toleration of unnecessary noise--the slamming of doors, for
+instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing--is direct evidence
+that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In
+Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever
+think for mere noise--to mention one form of it, the way in which
+drumming goes on for no purpose at all.
+
+[Footnote 1: According to a notice issued by the Society for the
+Protection of Animals in Munich, the superfluous whipping and the
+cracking of whips were, in December, 1858, positively forbidden in
+Nuremberg.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In _Up the Rhine_.]
+
+Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this
+chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I
+refer to a poetical epistle in _terzo rimo_ by the famous painter
+Bronzino, entitled _De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini_. It gives a
+detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the
+various noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragicomic style,
+it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in _Opere burlesche del
+Berni, Aretino ed altri_, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in
+Utrecht in 1771.
+
+
+
+
+A FEW PARABLES.
+
+
+In a field of ripening corn I came to a place which had been trampled
+down by some ruthless foot; and as I glanced amongst the countless
+stalks, every one of them alike, standing there so erect and bearing
+the full weight of the ear, I saw a multitude of different flowers,
+red and blue and violet. How pretty they looked as they grew there so
+naturally with their little foliage! But, thought I, they are quite
+useless; they bear no fruit; they are mere weeds, suffered to remain
+only because there is no getting rid of them. And yet, but for these
+flowers, there would be nothing to charm the eye in that wilderness
+of stalks. They are emblematic of poetry and art, which, in civic
+life--so severe, but still useful and not without its fruit--play the
+same part as flowers in the corn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are some really beautifully landscapes in the world, but the
+human figures in them are poor, and you had not better look at them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The fly should be used as the symbol of impertinence and audacity; for
+whilst all other animals shun man more than anything else, and run
+away even before he comes near them, the fly lights upon his very
+nose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two Chinamen traveling in Europe went to the theatre for the first
+time. One of them did nothing but study the machinery, and he
+succeeded in finding out how it was worked. The other tried to get at
+the meaning of the piece in spite of his ignorance of the language.
+Here you have the Astronomer and the Philosopher.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wisdom which is only theoretical and never put into practice, is like
+a double rose; its color and perfume are delightful, but it withers
+away and leaves no seed.
+
+No rose without a thorn. Yes, but many a thorn without a rose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A wide-spreading apple-tree stood in full bloom, and behind it a
+straight fir raised its dark and tapering head. _Look at the thousands
+of gay blossoms which cover me everywhere_, said the apple-tree; _what
+have you to show in comparison? Dark-green needles! That is true_,
+replied the fir, _but when winter comes, you will be bared of your
+glory; and I shall be as I am now_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once, as I was botanizing under an oak, I found amongst a number
+of other plants of similar height one that was dark in color, with
+tightly closed leaves and a stalk that was very straight and stiff.
+When I touched it, it said to me in firm tones: _Let me alone; I am
+not for your collection, like these plants to which Nature has given
+only a single year of life. I am a little oak_.
+
+So it is with a man whose influence is to last for hundreds of years.
+As a child, as a youth, often even as a full-grown man, nay, his whole
+life long, he goes about among his fellows, looking like them and
+seemingly as unimportant. But let him alone; he will not die. Time
+will come and bring those who know how to value him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The man who goes up in a balloon does not feel as though he were
+ascending; he only sees the earth sinking deeper under him.
+
+There is a mystery which only those will understand who feel the truth
+of it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Your estimation of a man's size will be affected by the distance at
+which you stand from him, but in two entirely opposite ways according
+as it is his physical or his mental stature that you are considering.
+The one will seem smaller, the farther off you move; the other,
+greater.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nature covers all her works with a varnish of beauty, like the tender
+bloom that is breathed, as it were, on the surface of a peach or a
+plum. Painters and poets lay themselves out to take off this varnish,
+to store it up, and give it us to be enjoyed at our leisure. We drink
+deep of this beauty long before we enter upon life itself; and when
+afterwards we come to see the works of Nature for ourselves, the
+varnish is gone: the artists have used it up and we have enjoyed it in
+advance. Thus it is that the world so often appears harsh and devoid
+of charm, nay, actually repulsive. It were better to leave us to
+discover the varnish for ourselves. This would mean that we should
+not enjoy it all at once and in large quantities; we should have no
+finished pictures, no perfect poems; but we should look at all things
+in that genial and pleasing light in which even now a child of Nature
+sometimes sees them--some one who has not anticipated his aesthetic
+pleasures by the help of art, or taken the charms of life too early.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Cathedral in Mayence is so shut in by the houses that are built
+round about it, that there is no one spot from which you can see it
+as a whole. This is symbolic of everything great or beautiful in the
+world. It ought to exist for its own sake alone, but before very long
+it is misused to serve alien ends. People come from all directions
+wanting to find in it support and maintenance for themselves; they
+stand in the way and spoil its effect. To be sure, there is nothing
+surprising in this, for in a world of need and imperfection everything
+is seized upon which can be used to satisfy want. Nothing is exempt
+from this service, no, not even those very things which arise only
+when need and want are for a moment lost sight of--the beautiful and
+the true, sought for their own sakes.
+
+This is especially illustrated and corroborated in the case of
+institutions--whether great or small, wealthy or poor, founded, no
+matter in what century or in what land, to maintain and advance human
+knowledge, and generally to afford help to those intellectual efforts
+which ennoble the race. Wherever these institutions may be, it is not
+long before people sneak up to them under the pretence of wishing to
+further those special ends, while they are really led on by the desire
+to secure the emoluments which have been left for their furtherance,
+and thus to satisfy certain coarse and brutal instincts of their own.
+Thus it is that we come to have so many charlatans in every branch
+of knowledge. The charlatan takes very different shapes according
+to circumstances; but at bottom he is a man who cares nothing about
+knowledge for its own sake, and only strives to gain the semblance
+of it that he may use it for his own personal ends, which are always
+selfish and material.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of
+the weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he
+crushes both them and himself. Or he is like Gulliver at Lilliput,
+overwhelmed by an enormous number of little men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A mother gave her children Aesop's fables to read, in the hope of
+educating and improving their minds; but they very soon brought the
+book back, and the eldest, wise beyond his years, delivered himself as
+follows: _This is no book for us; it's much too childish and stupid.
+You can't make us believe that foxes and wolves and ravens are able to
+talk; we've got beyond stories of that kind_!
+
+In these young hopefuls you have the enlightened Rationalists of the
+future.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in
+winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills,
+they were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together
+again, when just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of
+huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off
+by remaining at a little distance from one another. In the same way
+the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be
+mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of
+their nature. The moderate distance which they at last discover to be
+the only tolerable condition of intercourse, is the code of politeness
+and fine manners; and those who transgress it are roughly told--in
+the English phrase--_to keep their distance_. By this arrangement the
+mutual need of warmth is only very moderately satisfied; but then
+people do not get pricked. A man who has some heat in himself prefers
+to remain outside, where he will neither prick other people nor get
+pricked himself.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10732 ***
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+  <body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10732 ***</div>
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      THE ESSAYS OF<br /><br /> ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER:<br /><br /> STUDIES IN
+      PESSIMISM
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Arthur Schopenhauer
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      Translated By T. Bailey Saunders
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> NOTE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> ON SUICIDE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IMMORTALITY:[1] A DIALOGUE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> FURTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> ON EDUCATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> OF WOMEN. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> ON NOISE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> A FEW PARABLES. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      NOTE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The Essays here presented form a further selection from Schopenhauer's <i>Parerga</i>,
+      brought together under a title which is not to be found in the original,
+      and does not claim to apply to every chapter in the volume. The first
+      essay is, in the main, a rendering of the philosopher's remarks under the
+      heading of <i>Nachträge zur Lehre vom Leiden der Welt</i>, together with
+      certain parts of another section entitled <i>Nachträge zur Lehre von der
+      Bejahung und Verneinung des Willens zum Leben</i>. Such omissions as I
+      have made are directed chiefly by the desire to avoid repeating arguments
+      already familiar to readers of the other volumes in this series. The <i>Dialogue
+      on Immortality</i> sums up views expressed at length in the philosopher's
+      chief work, and treated again in the <i>Parerga</i>. The <i>Psychological
+      Observations</i> in this and the previous volume practically exhaust the
+      chapter of the original which bears this title.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The essay on <i>Women</i> must not be taken in jest. It expresses
+      Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer of the
+      faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question which is
+      just now receiving a good deal of attention among us.
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      T.B.S.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Unless <i>suffering</i> is the direct and immediate object of life, our
+      existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the
+      enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and
+      originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as
+      serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate
+      misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but
+      misfortune in general is the rule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of
+      philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is just
+      what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is
+      particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to
+      strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism.<a
+      href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1">1</a> It is the
+      good which is negative; in other words, happiness and satisfaction always
+      imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain brought to an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>,
+      cf. <i>Thèod</i>, §153.&mdash;Leibnitz argued that evil is a negative
+      quality&mdash;<i>i.e</i>., the absence of good; and that its active and
+      seemingly positive character is an incidental and not an essential part of
+      its nature. Cold, he said, is only the absence of the power of heat, and
+      the active power of expansion in freezing water is an incidental and not
+      an essential part of the nature of cold. The fact is, that the power of
+      expansion in freezing water is really an increase of repulsion amongst its
+      molecules; and Schopenhauer is quite right in calling the whole argument a
+      sophism.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not nearly so
+      pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at
+      any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes
+      to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the
+      respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the
+      thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself; and
+      this is a form of consolation open to every one. But what an awful fate
+      this means for mankind as a whole!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of the
+      butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey. So it is
+      that in our good days we are all unconscious of the evil Fate may have
+      presently in store for us&mdash;sickness, poverty, mutilation, loss of
+      sight or reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is
+      continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always
+      coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time
+      stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of
+      boredom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But misfortune has its uses; for, as our bodily frame would burst asunder
+      if the pressure of the atmosphere was removed, so, if the lives of men
+      were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if everything they took
+      in hand were successful, they would be so swollen with arrogance that,
+      though they might not burst, they would present the spectacle of unbridled
+      folly&mdash;nay, they would go mad. And I may say, further, that a certain
+      amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every man at all times.
+      A ship without ballast is unstable and will not go straight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Certain it is that <i>work, worry, labor</i> and <i>trouble</i>, form the
+      lot of almost all men their whole life long. But if all wishes were
+      fulfilled as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what
+      would they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and
+      ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his
+      Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of boredom
+      or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and murders; so
+      that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on itself than it has
+      now to accept at the hands of Nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in
+      a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and
+      eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a blessing that we do not
+      know what is really going to happen. Could we foresee it, there are times
+      when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death,
+      but to life, and as yet all unconscious of what their sentence means.
+      Nevertheless, every man desires to reach old age; in other words, a state
+      of life of which it may be said: "It is bad to-day, and it will be worse
+      to-morrow; and so on till the worst of all."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery,
+      pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course, you
+      will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little as on
+      the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life; and if,
+      here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing the
+      blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even though things have
+      gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the more clearly you
+      will feel that, on the whole, life is <i>a disappointment, nay, a cheat</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are old,
+      after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling they will have at
+      the sight of each other will be one of complete disappointment at life as
+      a whole; because their thoughts will be carried back to that earlier time
+      when life seemed so fair as it lay spread out before them in the rosy
+      light of dawn, promised so much&mdash;and then performed so little. This
+      feeling will so completely predominate over every other that they will not
+      even consider it necessary to give it words; but on either side it will be
+      silently assumed, and form the ground-work of all they have to talk about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits some
+      time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the performance
+      twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be seen only once;
+      and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect
+      is gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While no man is much to be envied for his lot, there are countless numbers
+      whose fate is to be deplored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Life is a task to be done. It is a fine thing to say <i>defunctus est</i>;
+      it means that the man has done his task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone,
+      would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so
+      much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of
+      existence? or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden
+      upon it in cold blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless&mdash;because
+      I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the
+      Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers in
+      peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to the
+      lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham
+      philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please, and
+      you will get it. Your University professors are bound to preach optimism;
+      and it is an easy and agreeable task to upset their theories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have reminded the reader that every state of welfare, every feeling of
+      satisfaction, is negative in its character; that is to say, it consists in
+      freedom from pain, which is the positive element of existence. It follows,
+      therefore, that the happiness of any given life is to be measured, not by
+      its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to which it has been free from
+      suffering&mdash;from positive evil. If this is the true standpoint, the
+      lower animals appear to enjoy a happier destiny than man. Let us examine
+      the matter a little more closely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However varied the forms that human happiness and misery may take, leading
+      a man to seek the one and shun the other, the material basis of it all is
+      bodily pleasure or bodily pain. This basis is very restricted: it is
+      simply health, food, protection from wet and cold, the satisfaction of the
+      sexual instinct; or else the absence of these things. Consequently, as far
+      as real physical pleasure is concerned, the man is not better off than the
+      brute, except in so far as the higher possibilities of his nervous system
+      make him more sensitive to every kind of pleasure, but also, it must be
+      remembered, to every kind of pain. But then compared with the brute, how
+      much stronger are the passions aroused in him! what an immeasurable
+      difference there is in the depth and vehemence of his emotions!&mdash;and
+      yet, in the one case, as in the other, all to produce the same result in
+      the end: namely, health, food, clothing, and so on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief source of all this passion is that thought for what is absent
+      and future, which, with man, exercises such a powerful influence upon all
+      he does. It is this that is the real origin of his cares, his hopes, his
+      fears&mdash;emotions which affect him much more deeply than could ever be
+      the case with those present joys and sufferings to which the brute is
+      confined. In his powers of reflection, memory and foresight, man
+      possesses, as it were, a machine for condensing and storing up his
+      pleasures and his sorrows. But the brute has nothing of the kind; whenever
+      it is in pain, it is as though it were suffering for the first time, even
+      though the same thing should have previously happened to it times out of
+      number. It has no power of summing up its feelings. Hence its careless and
+      placid temper: how much it is to be envied! But in man reflection comes
+      in, with all the emotions to which it gives rise; and taking up the same
+      elements of pleasure and pain which are common to him and the brute, it
+      develops his susceptibility to happiness and misery to such a degree that,
+      at one moment the man is brought in an instant to a state of delight that
+      may even prove fatal, at another to the depths of despair and suicide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we carry our analysis a step farther, we shall find that, in order to
+      increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number and
+      pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much more
+      difficult to satisfy than those of the brute. Hence luxury in all its
+      forms; delicate food, the use of tobacco and opium, spirituous liquors,
+      fine clothes, and the thousand and one things than he considers necessary
+      to his existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And above and beyond all this, there is a separate and peculiar source of
+      pleasure, and consequently of pain, which man has established for himself,
+      also as the result of using his powers of reflection; and this occupies
+      him out of all proportion to its value, nay, almost more than all his
+      other interests put together&mdash;I mean ambition and the feeling of
+      honor and shame; in plain words, what he thinks about the opinion other
+      people have of him. Taking a thousand forms, often very strange ones, this
+      becomes the goal of almost all the efforts he makes that are not rooted in
+      physical pleasure or pain. It is true that besides the sources of pleasure
+      which he has in common with the brute, man has the pleasures of the mind
+      as well. These admit of many gradations, from the most innocent trifling
+      or the merest talk up to the highest intellectual achievements; but there
+      is the accompanying boredom to be set against them on the side of
+      suffering. Boredom is a form of suffering unknown to brutes, at any rate
+      in their natural state; it is only the very cleverest of them who show
+      faint traces of it when they are domesticated; whereas in the case of man
+      it has become a downright scourge. The crowd of miserable wretches whose
+      one aim in life is to fill their purses but never to put anything into
+      their heads, offers a singular instance of this torment of boredom. Their
+      wealth becomes a punishment by delivering them up to misery of having
+      nothing to do; for, to escape it, they will rush about in all directions,
+      traveling here, there and everywhere. No sooner do they arrive in a place
+      than they are anxious to know what amusements it affords; just as though
+      they were beggars asking where they could receive a dole! Of a truth, need
+      and boredom are the two poles of human life. Finally, I may mention that
+      as regards the sexual relation, a man is committed to a peculiar
+      arrangement which drives him obstinately to choose one person. This
+      feeling grows, now and then, into a more or less passionate love,<a
+      href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2" id="linknoteref-2">2</a> which is
+      the source of little pleasure and much suffering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ I have treated this subject
+      at length in a special chapter of the second volume of my chief work.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is, however, a wonderful thing that the mere addition of thought should
+      serve to raise such a vast and lofty structure of human happiness and
+      misery; resting, too, on the same narrow basis of joy and sorrow as man
+      holds in common with the brute, and exposing him to such violent emotions,
+      to so many storms of passion, so much convulsion of feeling, that what he
+      has suffered stands written and may be read in the lines on his face. And
+      yet, when all is told, he has been struggling ultimately for the very same
+      things as the brute has attained, and with an incomparably smaller
+      expenditure of passion and pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in human
+      life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of life are
+      made much worse for man by the fact that death is something very real to
+      him. The brute flies from death instinctively without really knowing what
+      it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it in the way natural to a
+      man, who has this prospect always before his eyes. So that even if only a
+      few brutes die a natural death, and most of them live only just long
+      enough to transmit their species, and then, if not earlier, become the
+      prey of some other animal,&mdash;whilst man, on the other hand, manages to
+      make so-called natural death the rule, to which, however, there are a good
+      many exceptions,&mdash;the advantage is on the side of the brute, for the
+      reason stated above. But the fact is that man attains the natural term of
+      years just as seldom as the brute; because the unnatural way in which he
+      lives, and the strain of work and emotion, lead to a degeneration of the
+      race; and so his goal is not often reached.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brute is much more content with mere existence than man; the plant is
+      wholly so; and man finds satisfaction in it just in proportion as he is
+      dull and obtuse. Accordingly, the life of the brute carries less of sorrow
+      with it, but also less of joy, when compared with the life of man; and
+      while this may be traced, on the one side, to freedom from the torment of
+      <i>care</i> and <i>anxiety</i>, it is also due to the fact that <i>hope</i>,
+      in any real sense, is unknown to the brute. It is thus deprived of any
+      share in that which gives us the most and best of our joys and pleasures,
+      the mental anticipation of a happy future, and the inspiriting play of
+      phantasy, both of which we owe to our power of imagination. If the brute
+      is free from care, it is also, in this sense, without hope; in either
+      case, because its consciousness is limited to the present moment, to what
+      it can actually see before it. The brute is an embodiment of present
+      impulses, and hence what elements of fear and hope exist in its nature&mdash;and
+      they do not go very far&mdash;arise only in relation to objects that lie
+      before it and within reach of those impulses: whereas a man's range of
+      vision embraces the whole of his life, and extends far into the past and
+      future.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Following upon this, there is one respect in which brutes show real wisdom
+      when compared with us&mdash;I mean, their quiet, placid enjoyment of the
+      present moment. The tranquillity of mind which this seems to give them
+      often puts us to shame for the many times we allow our thoughts and our
+      cares to make us restless and discontented. And, in fact, those pleasures
+      of hope and anticipation which I have been mentioning are not to be had
+      for nothing. The delight which a man has in hoping for and looking forward
+      to some special satisfaction is a part of the real pleasure attaching to
+      it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards deducted; for the more we look
+      forward to anything, the less satisfaction we find in it when it comes.
+      But the brute's enjoyment is not anticipated, and therefore, suffers no
+      deduction; so that the actual pleasure of the moment comes to it whole and
+      unimpaired. In the same way, too, evil presses upon the brute only with
+      its own intrinsic weight; whereas with us the fear of its coming often
+      makes its burden ten times more grievous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up
+      entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight we
+      take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified, and in
+      some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that is free from
+      trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and preoccupations,
+      mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless creature, misuses
+      this quality of the brute to be more content than we are with mere
+      existence, and often works it to such an extent that he allows the brute
+      absolutely nothing more than mere, bare life. The bird which was made so
+      that it might rove over half of the world, he shuts up into the space of a
+      cubic foot, there to die a slow death in longing and crying for freedom;
+      for in a cage it does not sing for the pleasure of it. And when I see how
+      man misuses the dog, his best friend; how he ties up this intelligent
+      animal with a chain, I feel the deepest sympathy with the brute and
+      burning indignation against its master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall see later that by taking a very high standpoint it is possible to
+      justify the sufferings of mankind. But this justification cannot apply to
+      animals, whose sufferings, while in a great measure brought about by men,
+      are often considerable even apart from their agency.<a href="#linknote-3"
+      name="linknoteref-3" id="linknoteref-3">3</a> And so we are forced to ask,
+      Why and for what purpose does all this torment and agony exist? There is
+      nothing here to give the will pause; it is not free to deny itself and so
+      obtain redemption. There is only one consideration that may serve to
+      explain the sufferings of animals. It is this: that the will to live,
+      which underlies the whole world of phenomena, must, in their case satisfy
+      its cravings by feeding upon itself. This it does by forming a gradation
+      of phenomena, every one of which exists at the expense of another. I have
+      shown, however, that the capacity for suffering is less in animals than in
+      man. Any further explanation that may be given of their fate will be in
+      the nature of hypothesis, if not actually mythical in its character; and I
+      may leave the reader to speculate upon the matter for himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. <i>Welt als Wille und
+      Vorstellung</i>, vol. ii. p. 404.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Brahma</i> is said to have produced the world by a kind of fall or
+      mistake; and in order to atone for his folly, he is bound to remain in it
+      himself until he works out his redemption. As an account of the origin of
+      things, that is admirable! According to the doctrines of <i>Buddhism</i>,
+      the world came into being as the result of some inexplicable disturbance
+      in the heavenly calm of Nirvana, that blessed state obtained by expiation,
+      which had endured so long a time&mdash;the change taking place by a kind
+      of fatality. This explanation must be understood as having at bottom some
+      moral bearing; although it is illustrated by an exactly parallel theory in
+      the domain of physical science, which places the origin of the sun in a
+      primitive streak of mist, formed one knows not how. Subsequently, by a
+      series of moral errors, the world became gradually worse and worse&mdash;true
+      of the physical orders as well&mdash;until it assumed the dismal aspect it
+      wears to-day. Excellent! The <i>Greeks</i> looked upon the world and the
+      gods as the work of an inscrutable necessity. A passable explanation: we
+      may be content with it until we can get a better. Again, <i>Ormuzd</i> and
+      <i>Ahriman</i> are rival powers, continually at war. That is not bad. But
+      that a God like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and woe,
+      out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should then have
+      clapped his hands in praise of his own work, and declared everything to be
+      very good&mdash;that will not do at all! In its explanation of the origin
+      of the world, Judaism is inferior to any other form of religious doctrine
+      professed by a civilized nation; and it is quite in keeping with this that
+      it is the only one which presents no trace whatever of any belief in the
+      immortality of the soul.<a href="#linknote-4" name="linknoteref-4"
+      id="linknoteref-4">4</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ See <i>Parerga</i>, vol. i.
+      pp. 139 <i>et seq</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even though Leibnitz' contention, that this is the best of all possible
+      worlds, were correct, that would not justify God in having created it. For
+      he is the Creator not of the world only, but of possibility itself; and,
+      therefore, he ought to have so ordered possibility as that it would admit
+      of something better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this world
+      is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and, at the same time,
+      all-powerful Being; firstly, the misery which abounds in it everywhere;
+      and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest product, man, who is
+      a burlesque of what he should be. These things cannot be reconciled with
+      any such belief. On the contrary, they are just the facts which support
+      what I have been saying; they are our authority for viewing the world as
+      the outcome of our own misdeeds, and therefore, as something that had
+      better not have been. Whilst, under the former hypothesis, they amount to
+      a bitter accusation against the Creator, and supply material for sarcasm;
+      under the latter they form an indictment against our own nature, our own
+      will, and teach us a lesson of humility. They lead us to see that, like
+      the children of a libertine, we come into the world with the burden of sin
+      upon us; and that it is only through having continually to atone for this
+      sin that our existence is so miserable, and that its end is death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is nothing more certain than the general truth that it is the
+      grievous <i>sin of the world</i> which has produced the grievous <i>suffering
+      of the world</i>. I am not referring here to the physical connection
+      between these two things lying in the realm of experience; my meaning is
+      metaphysical. Accordingly, the sole thing that reconciles me to the Old
+      Testament is the story of the Fall. In my eyes, it is the only
+      metaphysical truth in that book, even though it appears in the form of an
+      allegory. There seems to me no better explanation of our existence than
+      that it is the result of some false step, some sin of which we are paying
+      the penalty. I cannot refrain from recommending the thoughtful reader a
+      popular, but at the same time, profound treatise on this subject by
+      Claudius<a href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" id="linknoteref-5">5</a>
+      which exhibits the essentially pessimistic spirit of Christianity. It is
+      entitled: <i>Cursed is the ground for thy sake</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;Matthias
+      Claudius (1740-1815), a popular poet, and friend of Klopstock, Herder and
+      Leasing. He edited the <i>Wandsbecker Bote</i>, in the fourth part of
+      which appeared the treatise mentioned above. He generally wrote under the
+      pseudonym of <i>Asmus</i>, and Schopenhauer often refers to him by this
+      name.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the ethics of the Greeks and the ethics of the Hindoos, there is a
+      glaring contrast. In the one case (with the exception, it must be
+      confessed, of Plato), the object of ethics is to enable a man to lead a
+      happy life; in the other, it is to free and redeem him from life
+      altogether&mdash;as is directly stated in the very first words of the <i>Sankhya
+      Karika</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Allied with this is the contrast between the Greek and the Christian idea
+      of death. It is strikingly presented in a visible form on a fine antique
+      sarcophagus in the gallery of Florence, which exhibits, in relief, the
+      whole series of ceremonies attending a wedding in ancient times, from the
+      formal offer to the evening when Hymen's torch lights the happy couple
+      home. Compare with that the Christian coffin, draped in mournful black and
+      surmounted with a crucifix! How much significance there is in these two
+      ways of finding comfort in death. They are opposed to each other, but each
+      is right. The one points to the <i>affirmation</i> of the will to live,
+      which remains sure of life for all time, however rapidly its forms may
+      change. The other, in the symbol of suffering and death, points to the <i>denial</i>
+      of the will to live, to redemption from this world, the domain of death
+      and devil. And in the question between the affirmation and the denial of
+      the will to live, Christianity is in the last resort right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The contrast which the New Testament presents when compared with the Old,
+      according to the ecclesiastical view of the matter, is just that existing
+      between my ethical system and the moral philosophy of Europe. The Old
+      Testament represents man as under the dominion of Law, in which, however,
+      there is no redemption. The New Testament declares Law to have failed,
+      frees man from its dominion,<a href="#linknote-6" name="linknoteref-6"
+      id="linknoteref-6">6</a> and in its stead preaches the kingdom of grace,
+      to be won by faith, love of neighbor and entire sacrifice of self. This is
+      the path of redemption from the evil of the world. The spirit of the New
+      Testament is undoubtedly asceticism, however your protestants and
+      rationalists may twist it to suit their purpose. Asceticism is the denial
+      of the will to live; and the transition from the Old Testament to the New,
+      from the dominion of Law to that of Faith, from justification by works to
+      redemption through the Mediator, from the domain of sin and death to
+      eternal life in Christ, means, when taken in its real sense, the
+      transition from the merely moral virtues to the denial of the will to
+      live. My philosophy shows the metaphysical foundation of justice and the
+      love of mankind, and points to the goal to which these virtues necessarily
+      lead, if they are practised in perfection. At the same time it is candid
+      in confessing that a man must turn his back upon the world, and that the
+      denial of the will to live is the way of redemption. It is therefore
+      really at one with the spirit of the New Testament, whilst all other
+      systems are couched in the spirit of the Old; that is to say,
+      theoretically as well as practically, their result is Judaism&mdash;mere
+      despotic theism. In this sense, then, my doctrine might be called the only
+      true Christian philosophy&mdash;however paradoxical a statement this may
+      seem to people who take superficial views instead of penetrating to the
+      heart of the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. Romans vii; Galatians
+      ii, iii.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you want a safe compass to guide you through life, and to banish all
+      doubt as to the right way of looking at it, you cannot do better than
+      accustom yourself to regard this world as a penitentiary, a sort of a
+      penal colony, or [Greek: ergastaerion] as the earliest philosopher called
+      it.<a href="#linknote-7" name="linknoteref-7" id="linknoteref-7">7</a>
+      Amongst the Christian Fathers, Origen, with praiseworthy courage, took
+      this view,<a href="#linknote-8" name="linknoteref-8" id="linknoteref-8">8</a>
+      which is further justified by certain objective theories of life. I refer,
+      not to my own philosophy alone, but to the wisdom of all ages, as
+      expressed in Brahmanism and Buddhism, and in the sayings of Greek
+      philosophers like Empedocles and Pythagoras; as also by Cicero, in his
+      remark that the wise men of old used to teach that we come into this world
+      to pay the penalty of crime committed in another state of existence&mdash;a
+      doctrine which formed part of the initiation into the mysteries.<a
+      href="#linknote-9" name="linknoteref-9" id="linknoteref-9">9</a> And
+      Vanini&mdash;whom his contemporaries burned, finding that an easier task
+      than to confute him&mdash;puts the same thing in a very forcible way. <i>Man</i>,
+      he says, <i>is so full of every kind of misery that, were it not repugnant
+      to the Christian religion, I should venture to affirm that if evil spirits
+      exist at all, they have posed into human form and are now atoning for
+      their crimes</i>.<a href="#linknote-10" name="linknoteref-10"
+      id="linknoteref-10">10</a> And true Christianity&mdash;using the word in
+      its right sense&mdash;also regards our existence as the consequence of sin
+      and error.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-7" id="linknote-7"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      7 (<a href="#linknoteref-7">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. L.
+      iii, c, 3, p. 399.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-8" id="linknote-8"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      8 (<a href="#linknoteref-8">return</a>)<br /> [ Augustine <i>de cìvitate
+      Dei</i>., L. xi. c. 23.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-9" id="linknote-9"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      9 (<a href="#linknoteref-9">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. <i>Fragmenta de
+      philosophia</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-10" id="linknote-10"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      10 (<a href="#linknoteref-10">return</a>)<br /> [<i>De admirandis naturae
+      arcanis</i>; dial L. p. 35.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you accustom yourself to this view of life you will regulate your
+      expectations accordingly, and cease to look upon all its disagreeable
+      incidents, great and small, its sufferings, its worries, its misery, as
+      anything unusual or irregular; nay, you will find that everything is as it
+      should be, in a world where each of us pays the penalty of existence in
+      his own peculiar way. Amongst the evils of a penal colony is the society
+      of those who form it; and if the reader is worthy of better company, he
+      will need no words from me to remind him of what he has to put up with at
+      present. If he has a soul above the common, or if he is a man of genius,
+      he will occasionally feel like some noble prisoner of state, condemned to
+      work in the galleys with common criminals; and he will follow his example
+      and try to isolate himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In general, however, it should be said that this view of life will enable
+      us to contemplate the so-called imperfections of the great majority of
+      men, their moral and intellectual deficiencies and the resulting base type
+      of countenance, without any surprise, to say nothing of indignation; for
+      we shall never cease to reflect where we are, and that the men about us
+      are beings conceived and born in sin, and living to atone for it. That is
+      what Christianity means in speaking of the sinful nature of man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Pardon's the word to all</i>! <a href="#linknote-11"
+      name="linknoteref-11" id="linknoteref-11">11</a> Whatever folly men
+      commit, be their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us
+      exercise forbearance; remembering that when these faults appear in others,
+      it is our follies and vices that we behold. They are the shortcomings of
+      humanity, to which we belong; whose faults, one and all, we share; yes,
+      even those very faults at which we now wax so indignant, merely because
+      they have not yet appeared in ourselves. They are faults that do not lie
+      on the surface. But they exist down there in the depths of our nature; and
+      should anything call them forth, they will come and show themselves, just
+      as we now see them in others. One man, it is true, may have faults that
+      are absent in his fellow; and it is undeniable that the sum total of bad
+      qualities is in some cases very large; for the difference of individuality
+      between man and man passes all measure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-11" id="linknote-11"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      11 (<a href="#linknoteref-11">return</a>)<br /> [ "Cymbeline," Act v. Sc.
+      5.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, the conviction that the world and man is something that had
+      better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards one
+      another. Nay, from this point of view, we might well consider the proper
+      form of address to be, not <i>Monsieur, Sir, mein Herr</i>, but <i>my
+      fellow-sufferer, Socî malorum, compagnon de miseres</i>! This may perhaps
+      sound strange, but it is in keeping with the facts; it puts others in a
+      right light; and it reminds us of that which is after all the most
+      necessary thing in life&mdash;the tolerance, patience, regard, and love of
+      neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore, every
+      man owes to his fellow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This vanity finds expression in the whole way in which things exist; in
+      the infinite nature of Time and Space, as opposed to the finite nature of
+      the individual in both; in the ever-passing present moment as the only
+      mode of actual existence; in the interdependence and relativity of all
+      things; in continual Becoming without ever Being; in constant wishing and
+      never being satisfied; in the long battle which forms the history of life,
+      where every effort is checked by difficulties, and stopped until they are
+      overcome. Time is that in which all things pass away; it is merely the
+      form under which the will to live&mdash;the thing-in-itself and therefore
+      imperishable&mdash;has revealed to it that its efforts are in vain; it is
+      that agent by which at every moment all things in our hands become as
+      nothing, and lose any real value they possess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That which <i>has been</i> exists no more; it exists as little as that
+      which has <i>never</i> been. But of everything that exists you must say,
+      in the next moment, that it has been. Hence something of great importance
+      now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in
+      that the latter is a <i>reality</i>, and related to the former as
+      something to nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing, after
+      thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for a little
+      while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he must exist no
+      more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that it cannot be true. The
+      crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a subject without having a
+      presentiment that Time is something ideal in its nature. This ideality of
+      Time and Space is the key to every true system of metaphysics; because it
+      provides for quite another order of things than is to be met with in the
+      domain of nature. This is why Kant is so great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of every event in our life we can say only for one moment that it <i>is</i>;
+      for ever after, that it <i>was</i>. Every evening we are poorer by a day.
+      It might, perhaps, make us mad to see how rapidly our short span of time
+      ebbs away; if it were not that in the furthest depths of our being we are
+      secretly conscious of our share in the exhaustible spring of eternity, so
+      that we can always hope to find life in it again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Consideration of the kind, touched on above, might, indeed, lead us to
+      embrace the belief that the greatest <i>wisdom</i> is to make the
+      enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the
+      only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other
+      hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest <i>folly</i>:
+      for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly,
+      like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole foundation on which our existence rests is the present&mdash;the
+      ever-fleeting present. It lies, then, in the very nature of our existence
+      to take the form of constant motion, and to offer no possibility of our
+      ever attaining the rest for which we are always striving. We are like a
+      man running downhill, who cannot keep on his legs unless he runs on, and
+      will inevitably fall if he stops; or, again, like a pole balanced on the
+      tip of one's finger; or like a planet, which would fall into its sun the
+      moment it ceased to hurry forward on its way. Unrest is the mark of
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a world where all is unstable, and nought can endure, but is swept
+      onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change; where a man, if he is
+      to keep erect at all, must always be advancing and moving, like an acrobat
+      on a rope&mdash;in such a world, happiness in inconceivable. How can it
+      dwell where, as Plato says, <i>continual Becoming and never Being</i> is
+      the sole form of existence? In the first place, a man never is happy, but
+      spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will
+      make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he does, it is only to
+      be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the end, and comes into
+      harbor with masts and rigging gone. And then, it is all one whether he has
+      been happy or miserable; for his life was never anything more than a
+      present moment always vanishing; and now it is over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same time it is a wonderful thing that, in the world of human
+      beings as in that of animals in general, this manifold restless motion is
+      produced and kept up by the agency of two simple impulses&mdash;hunger and
+      the sexual instinct; aided a little, perhaps, by the influence of boredom,
+      but by nothing else; and that, in the theatre of life, these suffice to
+      form the <i>primum mobile</i> of how complicated a machinery, setting in
+      motion how strange and varied a scene!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On looking a little closer, we find that inorganic matter presents a
+      constant conflict between chemical forces, which eventually works
+      dissolution; and on the other hand, that organic life is impossible
+      without continual change of matter, and cannot exist if it does not
+      receive perpetual help from without. This is the realm of <i>finality</i>;
+      and its opposite would be <i>an infinite existence</i>, exposed to no
+      attack from without, and needing nothing to support it; [Greek: haei
+      hosautos dn], the realm of eternal peace; [Greek: oute giguomenon oute
+      apollumenon], some timeless, changeless state, one and undiversified; the
+      negative knowledge of which forms the dominant note of the Platonic
+      philosophy. It is to some such state as this that the denial of the will
+      to live opens up the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scenes of our life are like pictures done in rough mosaic. Looked at
+      close, they produce no effect. There is nothing beautiful to be found in
+      them, unless you stand some distance off. So, to gain anything we have
+      longed for is only to discover how vain and empty it is; and even though
+      we are always living in expectation of better things, at the same time we
+      often repent and long to have the past back again. We look upon the
+      present as something to be put up with while it lasts, and serving only as
+      the way towards our goal. Hence most people, if they glance back when they
+      come to the end of life, will find that all along they have been living <i>ad
+      interim</i>: they will be surprised to find that the very thing they
+      disregarded and let slip by unenjoyed, was just the life in the
+      expectation of which they passed all their time. Of how many a man may it
+      not be said that hope made a fool of him until he danced into the arms of
+      death!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then again, how insatiable a creature is man! Every satisfaction he
+      attains lays the seeds of some new desire, so that there is no end to the
+      wishes of each individual will. And why is this? The real reason is simply
+      that, taken in itself, Will is the lord of all worlds: everything belongs
+      to it, and therefore no one single thing can ever give it satisfaction,
+      but only the whole, which is endless. For all that, it must rouse our
+      sympathy to think how very little the Will, this lord of the world, really
+      gets when it takes the form of an individual; usually only just enough to
+      keep the body together. This is why man is so very miserable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Life presents itself chiefly as a task&mdash;the task, I mean, of
+      subsisting at all, <i>gagner sa vie</i>. If this is accomplished, life is
+      a burden, and then there comes the second task of doing something with
+      that which has been won&mdash;of warding off boredom, which, like a bird
+      of prey, hovers over us, ready to fall wherever it sees a life secure from
+      need. The first task is to win something; the second, to banish the
+      feeling that it has been won; otherwise it is a burden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Human life must be some kind of mistake. The truth of this will be
+      sufficiently obvious if we only remember that man is a compound of needs
+      and necessities hard to satisfy; and that even when they are satisfied,
+      all he obtains is a state of painlessness, where nothing remains to him
+      but abandonment to boredom. This is direct proof that existence has no
+      real value in itself; for what is boredom but the feeling of the emptiness
+      of life? If life&mdash;the craving for which is the very essence of our
+      being&mdash;were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be
+      no such thing as boredom at all: mere existence would satisfy us in
+      itself, and we should want for nothing. But as it is, we take no delight
+      in existence except when we are struggling for something; and then
+      distance and difficulties to be overcome make our goal look as though it
+      would satisfy us&mdash;an illusion which vanishes when we reach it; or
+      else when we are occupied with some purely intellectual interest&mdash;when
+      in reality we have stepped forth from life to look upon it from the
+      outside, much after the manner of spectators at a play. And even sensual
+      pleasure itself means nothing but a struggle and aspiration, ceasing the
+      moment its aim is attained. Whenever we are not occupied in one of these
+      ways, but cast upon existence itself, its vain and worthless nature is
+      brought home to us; and this is what we mean by boredom. The hankering
+      after what is strange and uncommon&mdash;an innate and ineradicable
+      tendency of human nature&mdash;shows how glad we are at any interruption
+      of that natural course of affairs which is so very tedious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That this most perfect manifestation of the will to live, the human
+      organism, with the cunning and complex working of its machinery, must fall
+      to dust and yield up itself and all its strivings to extinction&mdash;this
+      is the naïve way in which Nature, who is always so true and sincere in
+      what she says, proclaims the whole struggle of this will as in its very
+      essence barren and unprofitable. Were it of any value in itself, anything
+      unconditioned and absolute, it could not thus end in mere nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we turn from contemplating the world as a whole, and, in particular,
+      the generations of men as they live their little hour of mock-existence
+      and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn from this, and
+      look at life in its small details, as presented, say, in a comedy, how
+      ridiculous it all seems! It is like a drop of water seen through a
+      microscope, a single drop teeming with <i>infusoria</i>; or a speck of
+      cheese full of mites invisible to the naked eye. How we laugh as they
+      bustle about so eagerly, and struggle with one another in so tiny a space!
+      And whether here, or in the little span of human life, this terrible
+      activity produces a comic effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. It is an
+      indivisible point, drawn out and magnified by the powerful lenses of Time
+      and Space.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON SUICIDE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      As far as I know, none but the votaries of monotheistic, that is to say,
+      Jewish religions, look upon suicide as a crime. This is all the more
+      striking, inasmuch as neither in the Old nor in the New Testament is there
+      to be found any prohibition or positive disapproval of it; so that
+      religious teachers are forced to base their condemnation of suicide on
+      philosophical grounds of their own invention. These are so very bad that
+      writers of this kind endeavor to make up for the weakness of their
+      arguments by the strong terms in which they express their abhorrence of
+      the practice; in other words, they declaim against it. They tell us that
+      suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice; that only a madman could be
+      guilty of it; and other insipidities of the same kind; or else they make
+      the nonsensical remark that suicide is <i>wrong</i>; when it is quite
+      obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more
+      unassailable title than to his own life and person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suicide, as I have said, is actually accounted a crime; and a crime which,
+      especially under the vulgar bigotry that prevails in England, is followed
+      by an ignominious burial and the seizure of the man's property; and for
+      that reason, in a case of suicide, the jury almost always brings in a
+      verdict of insanity. Now let the reader's own moral feelings decide as to
+      whether or not suicide is a criminal act. Think of the impression that
+      would be made upon you by the news that some one you know had committed
+      the crime, say, of murder or theft, or been guilty of some act of cruelty
+      or deception; and compare it with your feelings when you hear that he has
+      met a voluntary death. While in the one case a lively sense of indignation
+      and extreme resentment will be aroused, and you will call loudly for
+      punishment or revenge, in the other you will be moved to grief and
+      sympathy; and mingled with your thoughts will be admiration for his
+      courage, rather than the moral disapproval which follows upon a wicked
+      action. Who has not had acquaintances, friends, relations, who of their
+      own free will have left this world; and are these to be thought of with
+      horror as criminals? Most emphatically, No! I am rather of opinion that
+      the clergy should be challenged to explain what right they have to go into
+      the pulpit, or take up their pens, and stamp as a crime an action which
+      many men whom we hold in affection and honor have committed; and to refuse
+      an honorable burial to those who relinquish this world voluntarily. They
+      have no Biblical authority to boast of, as justifying their condemnation
+      of suicide; nay, not even any philosophical arguments that will hold
+      water; and it must be understood that it is arguments we want, and that we
+      will not be put off with mere phrases or words of abuse. If the criminal
+      law forbids suicide, that is not an argument valid in the Church; and
+      besides, the prohibition is ridiculous; for what penalty can frighten a
+      man who is not afraid of death itself? If the law punishes people for
+      trying to commit suicide, it is punishing the want of skill that makes the
+      attempt a failure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancients, moreover, were very far from regarding the matter in that
+      light. Pliny says: <i>Life is not so desirable a thing as to be protracted
+      at any cost. Whoever you are, you are sure to die, even though your life
+      has been full of abomination and crime. The chief of all remedies for a
+      troubled mind is the feeling that among the blessings which Nature gives
+      to man, there is none greater than an opportune death; and the best of it
+      is that every one can avail himself of it.<a href="#linknote-12"
+      name="linknoteref-12" id="linknoteref-12">12</a></i> And elsewhere the
+      same writer declares: <i>Not even to God are all things possible; for he
+      could not compass his own death, if he willed to die, and yet in all the
+      miseries of our earthly life, this is the best of his gifts to man.<a
+      href="#linknote-13" name="linknoteref-13" id="linknoteref-13">13</a></i>
+      Nay, in Massilia and on the isle of Ceos, the man who could give valid
+      reasons for relinquishing his life, was handed the cup of hemlock by the
+      magistrate; and that, too, in public.<a href="#linknote-14"
+      name="linknoteref-14" id="linknoteref-14">14</a> And in ancient times, how
+      many heroes and wise men died a voluntary death. Aristotle,<a
+      href="#linknote-15" name="linknoteref-15" id="linknoteref-15">15</a> it is
+      true, declared suicide to be an offence against the State, although not
+      against the person; but in Stobaeus' exposition of the Peripatetic
+      philosophy there is the following remark: <i>The good man should flee life
+      when his misfortunes become too great; the bad man, also, when he is too
+      prosperous</i>. And similarly: <i>So he will marry and beget children and
+      take part in the affairs of the State, and, generally, practice virtue and
+      continue to live; and then, again, if need be, and at any time necessity
+      compels him, he will depart to his place of refuge in the tomb.<a
+      href="#linknote-16" name="linknoteref-16" id="linknoteref-16">16</a></i>
+      And we find that the Stoics actually praised suicide as a noble and heroic
+      action, as hundreds of passages show; above all in the works of Seneca,
+      who expresses the strongest approval of it. As is well known, the Hindoos
+      look upon suicide as a religious act, especially when it takes the form of
+      self-immolation by widows; but also when it consists in casting oneself
+      under the wheels of the chariot of the god at Juggernaut, or being eaten
+      by crocodiles in the Ganges, or being drowned in the holy tanks in the
+      temples, and so on. The same thing occurs on the stage&mdash;that mirror
+      of life. For example, in <i>L'Orphelin de la Chine</i><a
+      href="#linknote-17" name="linknoteref-17" id="linknoteref-17">17</a> a
+      celebrated Chinese play, almost all the noble characters end by suicide;
+      without the slightest hint anywhere, or any impression being produced on
+      the spectator, that they are committing a crime. And in our own theatre it
+      is much the same&mdash;Palmira, for instance, in <i>Mahomet</i>, or
+      Mortimer in <i>Maria Stuart</i>, Othello, Countess Terzky.<a
+      href="#linknote-18" name="linknoteref-18" id="linknoteref-18">18</a> Is
+      Hamlet's monologue the meditation of a criminal? He merely declares that
+      if we had any certainty of being annihilated by it, death would be
+      infinitely preferable to the world as it is. But <i>there lies the rub</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-12" id="linknote-12"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      12 (<a href="#linknoteref-12">return</a>)<br /> [ Hist. Nat. Lib. xxviii.,
+      1.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-13" id="linknote-13"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      13 (<a href="#linknoteref-13">return</a>)<br /> [ Loc. cit. Lib. ii. c. 7.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-14" id="linknote-14"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      14 (<a href="#linknoteref-14">return</a>)<br /> [ 3 Valerius Maximus; hist.
+      Lib. ii., c. 6, § 7 et 8. Heraclides Ponticus; fragmenta de rebus
+      publicis, ix. Aeliani variae historiae, iii., 37. Strabo; Lib. x., c. 5,
+      6.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-15" id="linknote-15"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      15 (<a href="#linknoteref-15">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Eth. Nichom</i>., v.
+      15.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-16" id="linknote-16"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      16 (<a href="#linknoteref-16">return</a>)<br /> [ Stobaeus. <i>Ecl. Eth</i>..
+      ii., c. 7, pp. 286, 312]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-17" id="linknote-17"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      17 (<a href="#linknoteref-17">return</a>)<br /> [ Traduit par St. Julien,
+      1834.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-18" id="linknote-18"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      18 (<a href="#linknoteref-18">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;Palmira:
+      a female slave in Goethe's play of <i>Mahomet</i>. Mortimer: a would-be
+      lover and rescuer of Mary in Schiller's <i>Maria Stuart</i>. Countess
+      Terzky: a leading character in Schiller's <i>Wallenstein's Tod</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reasons advanced against suicide by the clergy of monotheistic, that
+      is to say, Jewish religions, and by those philosophers who adapt
+      themselves thereto, are weak sophisms which can easily be refuted.<a
+      href="#linknote-19" name="linknoteref-19" id="linknoteref-19">19</a> The
+      most thorough-going refutation of them is given by Hume in his <i>Essay on
+      Suicide</i>. This did not appear until after his death, when it was
+      immediately suppressed, owing to the scandalous bigotry and outrageous
+      ecclesiastical tyranny that prevailed in England; and hence only a very
+      few copies of it were sold under cover of secrecy and at a high price.
+      This and another treatise by that great man have come to us from Basle,
+      and we may be thankful for the reprint.<a href="#linknote-20"
+      name="linknoteref-20" id="linknoteref-20">20</a> It is a great disgrace to
+      the English nation that a purely philosophical treatise, which, proceeding
+      from one of the first thinkers and writers in England, aimed at refuting
+      the current arguments against suicide by the light of cold reason, should
+      be forced to sneak about in that country, as though it were some rascally
+      production, until at last it found refuge on the Continent. At the same
+      time it shows what a good conscience the Church has in such matters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-19" id="linknote-19"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      19 (<a href="#linknoteref-19">return</a>)<br /> [ See my treatise on the <i>Foundation
+      of Morals</i>, § 5.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-20" id="linknote-20"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      20 (<a href="#linknoteref-20">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Essays on Suicide</i>
+      and the <i>Immortality of the Soul</i>, by the late David Hume, Basle,
+      1799, sold by James Decker.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In my chief work I have explained the only valid reason existing against
+      suicide on the score of mortality. It is this: that suicide thwarts the
+      attainment of the highest moral aim by the fact that, for a real release
+      from this world of misery, it substitutes one that is merely apparent. But
+      from a <i>mistake</i> to a <i>crime</i> is a far cry; and it is as a crime
+      that the clergy of Christendom wish us to regard suicide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inmost kernel of Christianity is the truth that suffering&mdash;<i>the
+      Cross</i>&mdash;is the real end and object of life. Hence Christianity
+      condemns suicide as thwarting this end; whilst the ancient world, taking a
+      lower point of view, held it in approval, nay, in honor.<a
+      href="#linknote-21" name="linknoteref-21" id="linknoteref-21">21</a> But
+      if that is to be accounted a valid reason against suicide, it involves the
+      recognition of asceticism; that is to say, it is valid only from a much
+      higher ethical standpoint than has ever been adopted by moral philosophers
+      in Europe. If we abandon that high standpoint, there is no tenable reason
+      left, on the score of morality, for condemning suicide. The extraordinary
+      energy and zeal with which the clergy of monotheistic religions attack
+      suicide is not supported either by any passages in the Bible or by any
+      considerations of weight; so that it looks as though they must have some
+      secret reason for their contention. May it not be this&mdash;that the
+      voluntary surrender of life is a bad compliment for him who said that <i>all
+      things were very good</i>? If this is so, it offers another instance of
+      the crass optimism of these religions,&mdash;denouncing suicide to escape
+      being denounced by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-21" id="linknote-21"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      21 (<a href="#linknoteref-21">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;Schopenhauer
+      refers to <i>Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung</i>, vol. i., § 69, where
+      the reader may find the same argument stated at somewhat greater length.
+      According to Schopenhauer, moral freedom&mdash;the highest ethical aim&mdash;is
+      to be obtained only by a denial of the will to live. Far from being a
+      denial, suicide is an emphatic assertion of this will. For it is in
+      fleeing from the pleasures, not from the sufferings of life, that this
+      denial consists. When a man destroys his existence as an individual, he is
+      not by any means destroying his will to live. On the contrary, he would
+      like to live if he could do so with satisfaction to himself; if he could
+      assert his will against the power of circumstance; but circumstance is too
+      strong for him.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will generally be found that, as soon as the terrors of life reach the
+      point at which they outweigh the terrors of death, a man will put an end
+      to his life. But the terrors of death offer considerable resistance; they
+      stand like a sentinel at the gate leading out of this world. Perhaps there
+      is no man alive who would not have already put an end to his life, if this
+      end had been of a purely negative character, a sudden stoppage of
+      existence. There is something positive about it; it is the destruction of
+      the body; and a man shrinks from that, because his body is the
+      manifestation of the will to live.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the struggle with that sentinel is, as a rule, not so hard as it
+      may seem from a long way off, mainly in consequence of the antagonism
+      between the ills of the body and the ills of the mind. If we are in great
+      bodily pain, or the pain lasts a long time, we become indifferent to other
+      troubles; all we think about is to get well. In the same way great mental
+      suffering makes us insensible to bodily pain; we despise it; nay, if it
+      should outweigh the other, it distracts our thoughts, and we welcome it as
+      a pause in mental suffering. It is this feeling that makes suicide easy;
+      for the bodily pain that accompanies it loses all significance in the eyes
+      of one who is tortured by an excess of mental suffering. This is
+      especially evident in the case of those who are driven to suicide by some
+      purely morbid and exaggerated ill-humor. No special effort to overcome
+      their feelings is necessary, nor do such people require to be worked up in
+      order to take the step; but as soon as the keeper into whose charge they
+      are given leaves them for a couple of minutes, they quickly bring their
+      life to an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When, in some dreadful and ghastly dream, we reach the moment of greatest
+      horror, it awakes us; thereby banishing all the hideous shapes that were
+      born of the night. And life is a dream: when the moment of greatest horror
+      compels us to break it off, the same thing happens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment&mdash;a question which man
+      puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is this:
+      What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight
+      into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it
+      involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question
+      and awaits the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IMMORTALITY:<a href="#linknote-22" name="linknoteref-22"
+      id="linknoteref-22">22</a> A DIALOGUE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-22" id="linknote-22"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      22 (<a href="#linknoteref-22">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;The
+      word immortality&mdash;<i>Unsterblichkeit</i>&mdash;does not occur in the
+      original; nor would it, in its usual application, find a place in
+      Schopenhauer's vocabulary. The word he uses is <i>Unzerstörbarkeit&mdash;indestructibility</i>.
+      But I have preferred <i>immortality</i>, because that word is commonly
+      associated with the subject touched upon in this little debate. If any
+      critic doubts the wisdom of this preference, let me ask him to try his
+      hand at a short, concise, and, at the same time, popularly intelligible
+      rendering of the German original, which runs thus: <i>Zur Lehre von der
+      Unzerstörbarkeit unseres wahren Wesens durch den Tod: Meine dialogische
+      Schlussbelustigung</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      THRASYMACHOS&mdash;PHILALETHES.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Tell me now, in one word, what shall I be after my
+      death? And mind you be clear and precise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. All and nothing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. I thought so! I gave you a problem, and you solve it
+      by a contradiction. That's a very stale trick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Yes, but you raise transcendental questions, and you
+      expect me to answer them in language that is only made for immanent
+      knowledge. It's no wonder that a contradiction ensues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. What do you mean by transcendental questions and
+      immanent knowledge? I've heard these expressions before, of course; they
+      are not new to me. The Professor was fond of using them, but only as
+      predicates of the Deity, and he never talked of anything else; which was
+      all quite right and proper. He argued thus: if the Deity was in the world
+      itself, he was immanent; if he was somewhere outside it, he was
+      transcendent. Nothing could be clearer and more obvious! You knew where
+      you were. But this Kantian rigmarole won't do any more: it's antiquated
+      and no longer applicable to modern ideas. Why, we've had a whole row of
+      eminent men in the metropolis of German learning&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. (Aside.) German humbug, he means.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. The mighty Schleiermacher, for instance, and that
+      gigantic intellect, Hegel; and at this time of day we've abandoned that
+      nonsense. I should rather say we're so far beyond it that we can't put up
+      with it any more. What's the use of it then? What does it all mean?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge which passes
+      beyond the bounds of possible experience, and strives to determine the
+      nature of things as they are in themselves. Immanent knowledge, on the
+      other hand, is knowledge which confines itself entirely with those bounds;
+      so that it cannot apply to anything but actual phenomena. As far as you
+      are an individual, death will be the end of you. But your individuality is
+      not your true and inmost being: it is only the outward manifestation of
+      it. It is not the <i>thing-in-itself</i>, but only the phenomenon
+      presented in the form of time; and therefore with a beginning and an end.
+      But your real being knows neither time, nor beginning, nor end, nor yet
+      the limits of any given individual. It is everywhere present in every
+      individual; and no individual can exist apart from it. So when death
+      comes, on the one hand you are annihilated as an individual; on the other,
+      you are and remain everything. That is what I meant when I said that after
+      your death you would be all and nothing. It is difficult to find a more
+      precise answer to your question and at the same time be brief. The answer
+      is contradictory, I admit; but it is so simply because your life is in
+      time, and the immortal part of you in eternity. You may put the matter
+      thus: Your immortal part is something that does not last in time and yet
+      is indestructible; but there you have another contradiction! You see what
+      happens by trying to bring the transcendental within the limits of
+      immanent knowledge. It is in some sort doing violence to the latter by
+      misusing it for ends it was never meant to serve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Look here, I shan't give twopence for your
+      immortality unless I'm to remain an individual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Well, perhaps I may be able to satisfy you on this
+      point. Suppose I guarantee that after death you shall remain an
+      individual, but only on condition that you first spend three months of
+      complete unconsciousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. I shall have no objection to that.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. But remember, if people are completely unconscious,
+      they take no account of time. So, when you are dead, it's all the same to
+      you whether three months pass in the world of consciousness, or ten
+      thousand years. In the one case as in the other, it is simply a matter of
+      believing what is told you when you awake. So far, then, you can afford to
+      be indifferent whether it is three months or ten thousand years that pass
+      before you recover your individuality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Yes, if it comes to that, I suppose you're right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. And if by chance, after those ten thousand years have
+      gone by, no one ever thinks of awakening you, I fancy it would be no great
+      misfortune. You would have become quite accustomed to non-existence after
+      so long a spell of it&mdash;following upon such a very few years of life.
+      At any rate you may be sure you would be perfectly ignorant of the whole
+      thing. Further, if you knew that the mysterious power which keeps you in
+      your present state of life had never once ceased in those ten thousand
+      years to bring forth other phenomena like yourself, and to endow them with
+      life, it would fully console you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Indeed! So you think you're quietly going to do me
+      out of my individuality with all this fine talk. But I'm up to your
+      tricks. I tell you I won't exist unless I can have my individuality. I'm
+      not going to be put off with 'mysterious powers,' and what you call
+      'phenomena.' I can't do without my individuality, and I won't give it up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. You mean, I suppose, that your individuality is such a
+      delightful thing, so splendid, so perfect, and beyond compare&mdash;that
+      you can't imagine anything better. Aren't you ready to exchange your
+      present state for one which, if we can judge by what is told us, may
+      possibly be superior and more endurable?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Don't you see that my individuality, be it what it
+      may, is my very self? To me it is the most important thing in the world.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>For God is God and I am I</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <i>I</i> want to exist, <i>I, I</i>. That's the main thing. I don't care
+      about an existence which has to be proved to be mine, before I can believe
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Think what you're doing! When you say <i>I, I, I</i>
+      want to exist, it is not you alone that says this. Everything says it,
+      absolutely everything that has the faintest trace of consciousness. It
+      follows, then, that this desire of yours is just the part of you that is
+      <i>not individual</i>&mdash;the part that is common to all things without
+      distinction. It is the cry, not of the individual, but of existence
+      itself; it is the intrinsic element in everything that exists, nay, it is
+      the cause of anything existing at all. This desire craves for, and so is
+      satisfied with, nothing less than existence in general&mdash;not any
+      definite individual existence. No! that is not its aim. It seems to be so
+      only because this desire&mdash;this <i>Will</i>&mdash;attains
+      consciousness only in the individual, and therefore looks as though it
+      were concerned with nothing but the individual. There lies the illusion&mdash;an
+      illusion, it is true, in which the individual is held fast: but, if he
+      reflects, he can break the fetters and set himself free. It is only
+      indirectly, I say, that the individual has this violent craving for
+      existence. It is <i>the Will to Live</i> which is the real and direct
+      aspirant&mdash;alike and identical in all things. Since, then, existence
+      is the free work, nay, the mere reflection of the will, where existence
+      is, there, too, must be will; and for the moment the will finds its
+      satisfaction in existence itself; so far, I mean, as that which never
+      rests, but presses forward eternally, can ever find any satisfaction at
+      all. The will is careless of the individual: the individual is not its
+      business; although, as I have said, this seems to be the case, because the
+      individual has no direct consciousness of will except in himself. The
+      effect of this is to make the individual careful to maintain his own
+      existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety for the
+      preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that individuality
+      is not a form of perfection, but rather of limitation; and so to be freed
+      from it is not loss but gain. Trouble yourself no more about the matter.
+      Once thoroughly recognize what you are, what your existence really is,
+      namely, the universal will to live, and the whole question will seem to
+      you childish, and most ridiculous!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. You're childish yourself and most ridiculous, like
+      all philosophers! and if a man of my age lets himself in for a
+      quarter-of-an-hour's talk with such fools, it is only because it amuses me
+      and passes the time. I've more important business to attend to, so
+      Good-bye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      FURTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There is an unconscious propriety in the way in which, in all European
+      languages, the word <i>person</i> is commonly used to denote a human
+      being. The real meaning of <i>persona</i> is <i>a mask</i>, such as actors
+      were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no
+      one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed,
+      the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy;
+      and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid,
+      while a blockhead is quite at home in it.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing us the consequence
+      and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell us what the
+      future will be? This is precisely why reason is such an excellent power of
+      restraint in moments when we are possessed by some base passion, some fit
+      of anger, some covetous desire, that will lead us to do things whereof we
+      must presently repent.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <i>Hatred</i> comes from the heart; <i>contempt</i> from the head; and
+      neither feeling is quite within our control. For we cannot alter our
+      heart; its basis is determined by motives; and our head deals with
+      objective facts, and applies to them rules which are immutable. Any given
+      individual is the union of a particular heart with a particular head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hatred and contempt are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.
+      There are even not a few cases where hatred of a person is rooted in
+      nothing but forced esteem for his qualities. And besides, if a man sets
+      out to hate all the miserable creatures he meets, he will not have much
+      energy left for anything else; whereas he can despise them, one and all,
+      with the greatest ease. True, genuine contempt is just the reverse of
+      true, genuine pride; it keeps quite quiet and gives no sign of its
+      existence. For if a man shows that he despises you, he signifies at least
+      this much regard for you, that he wants to let you know how little he
+      appreciates you; and his wish is dictated by hatred, which cannot exist
+      with real contempt. On the contrary, if it is genuine, it is simply the
+      conviction that the object of it is a man of no value at all. Contempt is
+      not incompatible with indulgent and kindly treatment, and for the sake of
+      one's own peace and safety, this should not be omitted; it will prevent
+      irritation; and there is no one who cannot do harm if he is roused to it.
+      But if this pure, cold, sincere contempt ever shows itself, it will be met
+      with the most truculent hatred; for the despised person is not in a
+      position to fight contempt with its own weapons.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Melancholy is a very different thing from bad humor, and of the two, it is
+      not nearly so far removed from a gay and happy temperament. Melancholy
+      attracts, while bad humor repels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hypochondria is a species of torment which not only makes us unreasonably
+      cross with the things of the present; not only fills us with groundless
+      anxiety on the score of future misfortunes entirely of our own
+      manufacture; but also leads to unmerited self-reproach for what we have
+      done in the past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hypochondria shows itself in a perpetual hunting after things that vex and
+      annoy, and then brooding over them. The cause of it is an inward morbid
+      discontent, often co-existing with a naturally restless temperament. In
+      their extreme form, this discontent and this unrest lead to suicide.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Any incident, however trivial, that rouses disagreeable emotion, leaves an
+      after-effect in our mind, which for the time it lasts, prevents our taking
+      a clear objective view of the things about us, and tinges all our
+      thoughts: just as a small object held close to the eye limits and distorts
+      our field of vision.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      What makes people <i>hard-hearted</i> is this, that each man has, or
+      fancies he has, as much as he can bear in his own troubles. Hence, if a
+      man suddenly finds himself in an unusually happy position, it will in most
+      cases result in his being sympathetic and kind. But if he has never been
+      in any other than a happy position, or this becomes his permanent state,
+      the effect of it is often just the contrary: it so far removes him from
+      suffering that he is incapable of feeling any more sympathy with it. So it
+      is that the poor often show themselves more ready to help than the rich.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      At times it seems as though we both wanted and did not want the same
+      thing, and felt at once glad and sorry about it. For instance, if on some
+      fixed date we are going to be put to a decisive test about anything in
+      which it would be a great advantage to us to come off victorious, we shall
+      be anxious for it to take place at once, and at the same time we shall
+      tremble at the thought of its approach. And if, in the meantime, we hear
+      that, for once in a way, the date has been postponed, we shall experience
+      a feeling both of pleasure and of annoyance; for the news is
+      disappointing, but nevertheless it affords us momentary relief. It is just
+      the same thing if we are expecting some important letter carrying a
+      definite decision, and it fails to arrive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In such cases there are really two different motives at work in us; the
+      stronger but more distant of the two being the desire to stand the test
+      and to have the decision given in our favor; and the weaker, which touches
+      us more nearly, the wish to be left for the present in peace and quiet,
+      and accordingly in further enjoyment of the advantage which at any rate
+      attaches to a state of hopeful uncertainty, compared with the possibility
+      that the issue may be unfavorable.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      In my head there is a permanent opposition-party; and whenever I take any
+      step or come to any decision&mdash;though I may have given the matter
+      mature consideration&mdash;it afterwards attacks what I have done,
+      without, however, being each time necessarily in the right. This is, I
+      suppose, only a form of rectification on the part of the spirit of
+      scrutiny; but it often reproaches me when I do not deserve it. The same
+      thing, no doubt, happens to many others as well; for where is the man who
+      can help thinking that, after all, it were better not to have done
+      something that he did with great deliberation:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te
+  Conatus non poeniteat votique peracti</i>?
+
+</pre>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Why is it that <i>common</i> is an expression of contempt? and that <i>uncommon,
+      extraordinary, distinguished</i>, denote approbation? Why is everything
+      that is common contemptible?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Common</i> in its original meaning denotes that which is peculiar to
+      all men, <i>i.e</i>., shared equally by the whole species, and therefore
+      an inherent part of its nature. Accordingly, if an individual possesses no
+      qualities beyond those which attach to mankind in general, he is a <i>common
+      man. Ordinary</i> is a much milder word, and refers rather to intellectual
+      character; whereas <i>common</i> has more of a moral application.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What value can a creature have that is not a whit different from millions
+      of its kind? Millions, do I say? nay, an infiniture of creatures which,
+      century after century, in never-ending flow, Nature sends bubbling up from
+      her inexhaustible springs; as generous with them as the smith with the
+      useless sparks that fly around his anvil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is obviously quite right that a creature which has no qualities except
+      those of the species, should have to confine its claim to an existence
+      entirely within the limits of the species, and live a life conditioned by
+      those limits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In various passages of my works,<a href="#linknote-23"
+      name="linknoteref-23" id="linknoteref-23">23</a> I have argued that whilst
+      a lower animal possesses nothing more than the generic character of its
+      species, man is the only being which can lay claim to possess an
+      individual character. But in most men this individual character comes to
+      very little in reality; and they may be almost all ranged under certain
+      classes: <i>ce sont des espèces</i>. Their thoughts and desires, like
+      their faces, are those of the species, or, at any rate, those of the class
+      to which they belong; and accordingly, they are of a trivial, every-day,
+      common character, and exist by the thousand. You can usually tell
+      beforehand what they are likely to do and say. They have no special stamp
+      or mark to distinguish them; they are like manufactured goods, all of a
+      piece.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-23" id="linknote-23"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      23 (<a href="#linknoteref-23">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Grundprobleme der
+      Ethik</i>, p. 48; <i>Welt als Wille und Vorstellung</i>, vol. i. p. 338.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If, then, their nature is merged in that of the species, how shall their
+      existence go beyond it? The curse of vulgarity puts men on a par with the
+      lower animals, by allowing them none but a generic nature, a generic form
+      of existence. Anything that is high or great or noble, must then, as a
+      mater of course, and by its very nature, stand alone in a world where no
+      better expression can be found to denote what is base and contemptible
+      than that which I have mentioned as in general use, namely, <i>common</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Will, as the <i>thing-in-itself</i>, is the foundation of all being; it is
+      part and parcel of every creature, and the permanent element in
+      everything. Will, then, is that which we possess in common with all men,
+      nay, with all animals, and even with lower forms of existence; and in so
+      far we are akin to everything&mdash;so far, that is, as everything is
+      filled to overflowing with will. On the other hand, that which places one
+      being over another, and sets differences between man and man, is intellect
+      and knowledge; therefore in every manifestation of self we should, as far
+      as possible, give play to the intellect alone; for, as we have seen, the
+      will is the <i>common</i> part of us. Every violent exhibition of will is
+      common and vulgar; in other words, it reduces us to the level of the
+      species, and makes us a mere type and example of it; in that it is just
+      the character of the species that we are showing. So every fit of anger is
+      something <i>common</i>&mdash;every unrestrained display of joy, or of
+      hate, or fear&mdash;in short, every form of emotion; in other words, every
+      movement of the will, if it's so strong as decidedly to outweigh the
+      intellectual element in consciousness, and to make the man appear as a
+      being that <i>wills</i> rather than <i>knows</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In giving way to emotion of this violent kind, the greatest genius puts
+      himself on a level with the commonest son of earth. Contrarily, if a man
+      desires to be absolutely uncommon, in other words, great, he should never
+      allow his consciousness to be taken possession of and dominated by the
+      movement of his will, however much he may be solicited thereto. For
+      example, he must be able to observe that other people are badly disposed
+      towards him, without feeling any hatred towards them himself; nay, there
+      is no surer sign of a great mind than that it refuses to notice annoying
+      and insulting expressions, but straightway ascribes them, as it ascribes
+      countless other mistakes, to the defective knowledge of the speaker, and
+      so merely observes without feeling them. This is the meaning of that
+      remark of Gracian, that nothing is more unworthy of a man than to let it
+      be seen that he is one&mdash;<i>el mayor desdoro de un hombre es dar
+      muestras de que es hombre</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And even in the drama, which is the peculiar province of the passions and
+      emotions, it is easy for them to appear common and vulgar. And this is
+      specially observable in the works of the French tragic writers, who set no
+      other aim before themselves but the delineation of the passions; and by
+      indulging at one moment in a vaporous kind of pathos which makes them
+      ridiculous, at another in epigrammatic witticisms, endeavor to conceal the
+      vulgarity of their subject. I remember seeing the celebrated Mademoiselle
+      Rachel as Maria Stuart: and when she burst out in fury against Elizabeth&mdash;though
+      she did it very well&mdash;I could not help thinking of a washerwoman. She
+      played the final parting in such a way as to deprive it of all true tragic
+      feeling, of which, indeed, the French have no notion at all. The same part
+      was incomparably better played by the Italian Ristori; and, in fact, the
+      Italian nature, though in many respects very different from the German,
+      shares its appreciation for what is deep, serious, and true in Art; herein
+      opposed to the French, which everywhere betrays that it possesses none of
+      this feeling whatever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The noble, in other words, the uncommon, element in the drama&mdash;nay,
+      what is sublime in it&mdash;is not reached until the intellect is set to
+      work, as opposed to the will; until it takes a free flight over all those
+      passionate movements of the will, and makes them subject of its
+      contemplation. Shakespeare, in particular, shows that this is his general
+      method, more especially in Hamlet. And only when intellect rises to the
+      point where the vanity of all effort is manifest, and the will proceeds to
+      an act of self-annulment, is the drama tragic in the true sense of the
+      word; it is then that it reaches its highest aim in becoming really
+      sublime.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of
+      the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that error
+      of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and earth meet.
+      This explains many things, and among them the fact that everyone measures
+      us with his own standard&mdash;generally about as long as a tailor's tape,
+      and we have to put up with it: as also that no one will allow us to be
+      taller than himself&mdash;a supposition which is once for all taken for
+      granted.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      There is no doubt that many a man owes his good fortune in life solely to
+      the circumstance that he has a pleasant way of smiling, and so wins the
+      heart in his favor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the heart would do better to be careful, and to remember what
+      Hamlet put down in his tablets&mdash;<i>that one may smile, and smile, and
+      be a villain</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Everything that is really fundamental in a man, and therefore genuine
+      works, as such, unconsciously; in this respect like the power of nature.
+      That which has passed through the domain of consciousness is thereby
+      transformed into an idea or picture; and so if it comes to be uttered, it
+      is only an idea or picture which passes from one person to another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly, any quality of mind or character that is genuine and lasting,
+      is originally unconscious; and it is only when unconsciously brought into
+      play that it makes a profound impression. If any like quality is
+      consciously exercised, it means that it has been worked up; it becomes
+      intentional, and therefore matter of affectation, in other words, of
+      deception.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if he
+      tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails. This applies to the origin of
+      those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of all genuine
+      work. Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold water; and every
+      man who wants to achieve something, whether in practical life, in
+      literature, or in art, must <i>follow the rules without knowing them</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Men of very great capacity, will as a rule, find the company of very
+      stupid people preferable to that of the common run; for the same reason
+      that the tyrant and the mob, the grandfather and the grandchildren, are
+      natural allies.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      That line of Ovid's,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram</i>,
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      can be applied in its true physical sense to the lower animals alone; but
+      in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly all men
+      as well. All their plans and projects are merged in the desire of physical
+      enjoyment, physical well-being. They may, indeed, have personal interests,
+      often embracing a very varied sphere; but still these latter receive their
+      importance entirely from the relation in which they stand to the former.
+      This is not only proved by their manner of life and the things they say,
+      but it even shows itself in the way they look, the expression of their
+      physiognomy, their gait and gesticulations. Everything about them cries
+      out; <i>in terram prona</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
+      natures&mdash;men who really think and look about them in the world, and
+      form exceptional specimens of humanity&mdash;that the next lines are
+      applicable;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
+  Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus</i>.
+
+</pre>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in himself,
+      until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in a pond of
+      still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of the roar and
+      thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and yet remain what it
+      is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain. When water is as cold as
+      ice, you can have no idea of the latent warmth contained in it.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one really
+      knows what he looks like?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
+      then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, <i>Know
+      thyself</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is
+      physically impossible for a man to see himself in the glass except with
+      face turned straight towards it and perfectly motionless; where the
+      expression of the eye, which counts for so much, and really gives its
+      whole character to the face, is to a great extent lost. But co-existing
+      with this physical impossibility, there seems to me to be an ethical
+      impossibility of an analogous nature, and producing the same effect. A man
+      cannot look upon his own reflection as though the person presented there
+      were <i>a stranger</i> to him; and yet this is necessary if he is to take
+      <i>an objective view</i>. In the last resort, an objective view means a
+      deep-rooted feeling on the part of the individual, as a moral being, that
+      that which he is contemplating is <i>not himself</i><a href="#linknote-24"
+      name="linknoteref-24" id="linknoteref-24">24</a>; and unless he can take
+      this point of view, he will not see things in a really true light, which
+      is possible only if he is alive to their actual defects, exactly as they
+      are. Instead of that, when a man sees himself in the glass, something out
+      of his own egotistic nature whispers to him to take care to remember that
+      <i>it is no stranger, but himself, that he is looking at</i>; and this
+      operates as a <i>noli me tang ere</i>, and prevents him taking an
+      objective view. It seems, indeed, as if, without the leaven of a grain of
+      malice, such a view were impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-24" id="linknote-24"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      24 (<a href="#linknoteref-24">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. <i>Grundprobleme der
+      Ethik</i>, p. 275.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      According as a man's mental energy is exerted or relaxed, will life appear
+      to him either so short, and petty, and fleeting, that nothing can possibly
+      happen over which it is worth his while to spend emotion; that nothing
+      really matters, whether it is pleasure or riches, or even fame, and that
+      in whatever way a man may have failed, he cannot have lost much&mdash;or,
+      on the other hand, life will seem so long, so important, so all in all, so
+      momentous and so full of difficulty that we have to plunge into it with
+      our whole soul if we are to obtain a share of its goods, make sure of its
+      prizes, and carry out our plans. This latter is the immanent and common
+      view of life; it is what Gracian means when he speaks of the serious way
+      of looking at things&mdash;<i>tomar muy de veras el vivir</i>. The former
+      is the transcendental view, which is well expressed in Ovid's <i>non est
+      tanti</i>&mdash;it is not worth so much trouble; still better, however, by
+      Plato's remark that nothing in human affairs is worth any great anxiety&mdash;[Greek:
+      oute ti ton anthropinon axion esti megalaes spoudaes.] This condition of
+      mind is due to the intellect having got the upper hand in the domain of
+      consciousness, where, freed from the mere service of the will, it looks
+      upon the phenomena of life objectively, and so cannot fail to gain a clear
+      insight into its vain and futile character. But in the other condition of
+      mind, will predominates; and the intellect exists only to light it on its
+      way to the attainment of its desires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man is great or small according as he leans to the one or the other of
+      these views of life.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      People of very brilliant ability think little of admitting their errors
+      and weaknesses, or of letting others see them. They look upon them as
+      something for which they have duly paid; and instead of fancying that
+      these weaknesses are a disgrace to them, they consider they are doing them
+      an honor. This is especially the case when the errors are of the kind that
+      hang together with their qualities&mdash;<i>conditiones sine quibus non</i>&mdash;or,
+      as George Sand said, <i>les défauts de ses vertus</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Contrarily, there are people of good character and irreproachable
+      intellectual capacity, who, far from admitting the few little weaknesses
+      they have, conceal them with care, and show themselves very sensitive to
+      any suggestion of their existence; and this, just because their whole
+      merit consists in being free from error and infirmity. If these people are
+      found to have done anything wrong, their reputation immediately suffers.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      With people of only moderate ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with
+      those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy. Hence, it is just as
+      becoming in the latter to make no secret of the respect they bear
+      themselves and no disguise of the fact that they are conscious of unusual
+      power, as it is in the former to be modest. Valerius Maximus gives some
+      very neat examples of this in his chapter on self-confidence, <i>de
+      fiducia sui</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Not to go to the theatre is like making one's toilet without a mirror. But
+      it is still worse to take a decision without consulting a friend. For a
+      man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters, and yet go
+      wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will comes in and
+      deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take counsel of a
+      friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he falls ill, he sends
+      for a colleague.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      In all that we do, we wish, more or less, to come to the end; we are
+      impatient to finish and glad to be done. But the last scene of all, the
+      general end, is something that, as a rule, we wish as far off as may be.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a
+      foretaste of the resurrection. This is why even people who were
+      indifferent to each other, rejoice so much if they come together again
+      after twenty or thirty years' separation.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Intellects differ from one another in a very real and fundamental way: but
+      no comparison can well be made by merely general observations. It is
+      necessary to come close, and to go into details; for the difference that
+      exists cannot be seen from afar; and it is not easy to judge by outward
+      appearances, as in the several cases of education, leisure and occupation.
+      But even judging by these alone, it must be admitted that many a man has
+      <i>a degree of existence</i> at least ten times as high as another&mdash;in
+      other words, exists ten times as much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am not speaking here of savages whose life is often only one degree
+      above that of the apes in their woods. Consider, for instance, a porter in
+      Naples or Venice (in the north of Europe solicitude for the winter months
+      makes people more thoughtful and therefore reflective); look at the life
+      he leads, from its beginning to its end:&mdash;driven by poverty; living
+      on his physical strength; meeting the needs of every day, nay, of every
+      hour, by hard work, great effort, constant tumult, want in all its forms,
+      no care for the morrow; his only comfort rest after exhaustion; continuous
+      quarreling; not a moment free for reflection; such sensual delights as a
+      mild climate and only just sufficient food will permit of; and then,
+      finally, as the metaphysical element, the crass superstition of his
+      church; the whole forming a manner of life with only a low degree of
+      consciousness, where a man hustles, or rather is hustled, through his
+      existence. This restless and confused dream forms the life of how many
+      millions!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such men <i>think</i> only just so much as is necessary to carry out their
+      will for the moment. They never reflect upon their life as a connected
+      whole, let alone, then, upon existence in general; to a certain extent
+      they may be said to exist without really knowing it. The existence of the
+      mobsman or the slave who lives on in this unthinking way, stands very much
+      nearer than ours to that of the brute, which is confined entirely to the
+      present moment; but, for that very reason, it has also less of pain in it
+      than ours. Nay, since all pleasure is in its nature negative, that is to
+      say, consists in freedom from some form of misery or need, the constant
+      and rapid interchange between setting about something and getting it done,
+      which is the permanent accompaniment of the work they do, and then again
+      the augmented form which this takes when they go from work to rest and the
+      satisfaction of their needs&mdash;all this gives them a constant source of
+      enjoyment; and the fact that it is much commoner to see happy faces
+      amongst the poor than amongst the rich, is a sure proof that it is used to
+      good advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing from this kind of man, consider, next, the sober, sensible
+      merchant, who leads a life of speculation, thinks long over his plans and
+      carries them out with great care, founds a house, and provides for his
+      wife, his children and descendants; takes his share, too, in the life of a
+      community. It is obvious that a man like this has a much higher degree of
+      consciousness than the former, and so his existence has a higher degree of
+      reality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then look at the man of learning, who investigates, it may be, the history
+      of the past. He will have reached the point at which a man becomes
+      conscious of existence as a whole, sees beyond the period of his own life,
+      beyond his own personal interests, thinking over the whole course of the
+      world's history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, finally, look at the poet or the philosopher, in whom reflection has
+      reached such a height, that, instead of being drawn on to investigate any
+      one particular phenomenon of existence, he stands in amazement <i>before
+      existence itself</i>, this great sphinx, and makes it his problem. In him
+      consciousness has reached the degree of clearness at which it embraces the
+      world itself: his intellect has completely abandoned its function as the
+      servant of his will, and now holds the world before him; and the world
+      calls upon him much more to examine and consider it, than to play a part
+      in it himself. If, then, the degree of consciousness is the degree of
+      reality, such a man will be said to exist most of all, and there will be
+      sense and significance in so describing him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the two extremes here sketched, and the intervening stages,
+      everyone will be able to find the place at which he himself stands.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      We know that man is in general superior to all other animals, and this is
+      also the case in his capacity for being trained. Mohammedans are trained
+      to pray with their faces turned towards Mecca, five times a day; and they
+      never fail to do it. Christians are trained to cross themselves on certain
+      occasions, to bow, and so on. Indeed, it may be said that religion is the
+      <i>chef d'oeuvre</i> of the art of training, because it trains people in
+      the way they shall think: and, as is well known, you cannot begin the
+      process too early. There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be
+      firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before
+      the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great
+      solemnity. For as in the case of animals, so in that of men, training is
+      successful only when you begin in early youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noblemen and gentlemen are trained to hold nothing sacred but their word
+      of honor&mdash;to maintain a zealous, rigid, and unshaken belief in the
+      ridiculous code of chivalry; and if they are called upon to do so, to seal
+      their belief by dying for it, and seriously to regard a king as a being of
+      a higher order.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, our expressions of politeness, the compliments we make, in
+      particular, the respectful attentions we pay to ladies, are a matter of
+      training; as also our esteem for good birth, rank, titles, and so on. Of
+      the same character is the resentment we feel at any insult directed
+      against us; and the measure of this resentment may be exactly determined
+      by the nature of the insult. An Englishman, for instance, thinks it a
+      deadly insult to be told that he is no gentleman, or, still worse, that he
+      is a liar; a Frenchman has the same feeling if you call him a coward, and
+      a German if you say he is stupid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are many persons who are trained to be strictly honorable in regard
+      to one particular matter, while they have little honor to boast of in
+      anything else. Many a man, for instance, will not steal your money; but he
+      will lay hands on everything of yours that he can enjoy without having to
+      pay for it. A man of business will often deceive you without the slightest
+      scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit a theft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Imagination is strong in a man when that particular function of the brain
+      which enables him to observe is roused to activity without any necessary
+      excitement of the senses. Accordingly, we find that imagination is active
+      just in proportion as our senses are not excited by external objects. A
+      long period of solitude, whether in prison or in a sick room; quiet,
+      twilight, darkness&mdash;these are the things that promote its activity;
+      and under their influence it comes into play of itself. On the other hand,
+      when a great deal of material is presented to our faculties of
+      observation, as happens on a journey, or in the hurly-burly of the world,
+      or, again, in broad daylight, the imagination is idle, and, even though
+      call may be made upon it, refuses to become active, as though it
+      understood that that was not its proper time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, if the imagination is to yield any real product, it must have
+      received a great deal of material from the external world. This is the
+      only way in which its storehouse can be filled. The phantasy is nourished
+      much in the same way as the body, which is least capable of any work and
+      enjoys doing nothing just in the very moment when it receives its food
+      which it has to digest. And yet it is to this very food that it owes the
+      power which it afterwards puts forth at the right time.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the
+      centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other;
+      and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which
+      it can remain at rest.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      By a process of contradiction, distance in space makes things look small,
+      and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks so much
+      better in a contracting mirror or in a <i>camera obscura</i>, than it is
+      in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The scenes
+      and events of long ago, and the persons who took part in them, wear a
+      charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the outlines and
+      takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys no such
+      advantage, and so it always seems defective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And again, as regards space, small objects close to us look big, and if
+      they are very close, we may be able to see nothing else, but when we go a
+      little way off, they become minute and invisible. It is the same again as
+      regards time. The little incidents and accidents of every day fill us with
+      emotion, anxiety, annoyance, passion, as long as they are close to us,
+      when they appear so big, so important, so serious; but as soon as they are
+      borne down the restless stream of time, they lose what significance they
+      had; we think no more of them and soon forget them altogether. They were
+      big only because they were near.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <i>Joy</i> and <i>sorrow</i> are not ideas of the mind, but affections of
+      the will, and so they do not lie in the domain of memory. We cannot recall
+      our joys and sorrows; by which I mean that we cannot renew them. We can
+      recall only the <i>ideas</i> that accompanied them; and, in particular,
+      the things we were led to say; and these form a gauge of our feelings at
+      the time. Hence our memory of joys and sorrows is always imperfect, and
+      they become a matter of indifference to us as soon as they are over. This
+      explains the vanity of the attempt, which we sometimes make, to revive the
+      pleasures and the pains of the past. Pleasure and pain are essentially an
+      affair of the will; and the will, as such, is not possessed of memory,
+      which is a function of the intellect; and this in its turn gives out and
+      takes in nothing but thoughts and ideas, which are not here in question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a curious fact that in bad days we can very vividly recall the good
+      time that is now no more; but that in good days, we have only a very cold
+      and imperfect memory of the bad.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      We have a much better memory of actual objects or pictures than for mere
+      ideas. Hence a good imagination makes it easier to learn languages; for by
+      its aid, the new word is at once united with the actual object to which it
+      refers; whereas, if there is no imagination, it is simply put on a
+      parallel with the equivalent word in the mother tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mnemonics should not only mean the art of keeping something indirectly in
+      the memory by the use of some direct pun or witticism; it should, rather,
+      be applied to a systematic theory of memory, and explain its several
+      attributes by reference both to its real nature, and to the relation in
+      which these attributes stand to one another.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      There are moments in life when our senses obtain a higher and rarer degree
+      of clearness, apart from any particular occasion for it in the nature of
+      our surroundings; and explicable, rather, on physiological grounds alone,
+      as the result of some enhanced state of susceptibility, working from
+      within outwards. Such moments remain indelibly impressed upon the memory,
+      and preserve themselves in their individuality entire. We can assign no
+      reason for it, nor explain why this among so many thousand moments like it
+      should be specially remembered. It seems as much a matter of chance as
+      when single specimens of a whole race of animals now extinct are
+      discovered in the layers of a rock; or when, on opening a book, we light
+      upon an insect accidentally crushed within the leaves. Memories of this
+      kind are always sweet and pleasant.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      It occasionally happens that, for no particular reason, long-forgotten
+      scenes suddenly start up in the memory. This may in many cases be due to
+      the action of some hardly perceptible odor, which accompanied those scenes
+      and now recurs exactly same as before. For it is well known that the sense
+      of smell is specially effective in awakening memories, and that in general
+      it does not require much to rouse a train of ideas. And I may say, in
+      passing, that the sense of sight is connected with the understanding,<a
+      href="#linknote-25" name="linknoteref-25" id="linknoteref-25">25</a> the
+      sense of hearing with the reason,<a href="#linknote-26"
+      name="linknoteref-26" id="linknoteref-26">26</a> and, as we see in the
+      present case, the sense of smell with the memory. Touch and Taste are more
+      material and dependent upon contact. They have no ideal side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-25" id="linknote-25"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      25 (<a href="#linknoteref-25">return</a>)<br /> [<i>Wierfache Wurzel</i> §
+      21.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-26" id="linknote-26"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      26 (<a href="#linknoteref-26">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Parerga</i> vol. ii, §
+      311.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      It must also be reckoned among the peculiar attributes of memory that a
+      slight state of intoxication often so greatly enhances the recollection of
+      past times and scenes, that all the circumstances connected with them come
+      back much more clearly than would be possible in a state of sobriety; but
+      that, on the other hand, the recollection of what one said or did while
+      the intoxication lasted, is more than usually imperfect; nay, that if one
+      has been absolutely tipsy, it is gone altogether. We may say, then, that
+      whilst intoxication enhances the memory for what is past, it allows it to
+      remember little of the present.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.
+      Contrarily, if they are active within, they do not care to be dragged out
+      of themselves; it disturbs and impedes their thoughts in a way that is
+      often most ruinous to them.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      I am not surprised that some people are bored when they find themselves
+      alone; for they cannot laugh if they are quite by themselves. The very
+      idea of it seems folly to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Are we, then, to look upon laughter as merely O signal for others&mdash;a
+      mere sign, like a word? What makes it impossible for people to laugh when
+      they are alone is nothing but want of imagination, dullness of mind
+      generally&mdash;[Greek: anaisthaesia kai bradutaes psuchaes], as
+      Theophrastus has it.<a href="#linknote-27" name="linknoteref-27"
+      id="linknoteref-27">27</a> The lower animals never laugh, either alone or
+      in company. Myson, the misanthropist, was once surprised by one of these
+      people as he was laughing to himself. <i>Why do you laugh</i>? he asked;
+      <i>there is no one with you. That is just why I am laughing</i>, said
+      Myson.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-27" id="linknote-27"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      27 (<a href="#linknoteref-27">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Characters</i>, c.
+      27.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Natural <i>gesticulation</i>, such as commonly accompanies any lively
+      talk, is a language of its own, more widespread, even, than the language
+      of words&mdash;so far, I mean, as it is independent of words and alike in
+      all nations. It is true that nations make use of it in proportion as they
+      are vivacious, and that in particular cases, amongst the Italians, for
+      instance, it is supplemented by certain peculiar gestures which are merely
+      conventional, and therefore possessed of nothing more than a local value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the universal use made of it, gesticulation has some analogy with logic
+      and grammar, in that it has to do with the form, rather than with the
+      matter of conversation; but on the other hand it is distinguishable from
+      them by the fact that it has more of a moral than of an intellectual
+      bearing; in other words, it reflects the movements of the will. As an
+      accompaniment of conversation it is like the bass of a melody; and if, as
+      in music, it keeps true to the progress of the treble, it serves to
+      heighten the effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a conversation, the gesture depends upon the form in which the
+      subject-matter is conveyed; and it is interesting to observe that,
+      whatever that subject-matter may be, with a recurrence of the form, the
+      very same gesture is repeated. So if I happen to see&mdash;from my window,
+      say&mdash;two persons carrying on a lively conversation, without my being
+      able to catch a word, I can, nevertheless, understand the general nature
+      of it perfectly well; I mean, the kind of thing that is being said and the
+      form it takes. There is no mistake about it. The speaker is arguing about
+      something, advancing his reasons, then limiting their application, then
+      driving them home and drawing the conclusion in triumph; or he is
+      recounting his experiences, proving, perhaps, beyond the shadow of a
+      doubt, how much he has been injured, but bringing the clearest and most
+      damning evidence to show that his opponents were foolish and obstinate
+      people who would not be convinced; or else he is telling of the splendid
+      plan he laid, and how he carried it to a successful issue, or perhaps
+      failed because the luck was against him; or, it may be, he is saying that
+      he was completely at a loss to know what to do, or that he was quick in
+      seeing some traps set for him, and that by insisting on his rights or by
+      applying a little force, he succeeded in frustrating and punishing his
+      enemies; and so on in hundreds of cases of a similar kind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strictly speaking, however, what I get from gesticulation alone is an
+      abstract notion of the essential drift of what is being said, and that,
+      too, whether I judge from a moral or an intellectual point of view. It is
+      the quintessence, the true substance of the conversation, and this remains
+      identical, no matter what may have given rise to the conversation, or what
+      it may be about; the relation between the two being that of a general idea
+      or class-name to the individuals which it covers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I have said, the most interesting and amusing part of the matter is the
+      complete identity and solidarity of the gestures used to denote the same
+      set of circumstances, even though by people of very different temperament;
+      so that the gestures become exactly like words of a language, alike for
+      every one, and subject only to such small modifications as depend upon
+      variety of accent and education. And yet there can be no doubt but that
+      these standing gestures, which every one uses, are the result of no
+      convention or collusion. They are original and innate&mdash;a true
+      language of nature; consolidated, it may be, by imitation and the
+      influence of custom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is well known that it is part of an actor's duty to make a careful
+      study of gesture; and the same thing is true, to a somewhat smaller
+      degree, of a public speaker. This study must consist chiefly in watching
+      others and imitating their movements, for there are no abstract rules
+      fairly applicable to the matter, with the exception of some very general
+      leading principles, such as&mdash;to take an example&mdash;that the
+      gesture must not follow the word, but rather come immediately before it,
+      by way of announcing its approach and attracting the hearer's attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Englishmen entertain a peculiar contempt for gesticulation, and look upon
+      it as something vulgar and undignified. This seems to me a silly prejudice
+      on their part, and the outcome of their general prudery. For here we have
+      a language which nature has given to every one, and which every one
+      understands; and to do away with and forbid it for no better reason than
+      that it is opposed to that much-lauded thing, gentlemanly feeling, is a
+      very questionable proceeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON EDUCATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The human intellect is said to be so constituted that <i>general ideas</i>
+      arise by abstraction from <i>particular observations</i>, and therefore
+      come after them in point of time. If this is what actually occurs, as
+      happens in the case of a man who has to depend solely upon his own
+      experience for what he learns&mdash;who has no teacher and no book,&mdash;such
+      a man knows quite well which of his particular observations belong to and
+      are represented by each of his general ideas. He has a perfect
+      acquaintance with both sides of his experience, and accordingly, he treats
+      everything that comes in his way from a right standpoint. This might be
+      called the <i>natural</i> method of education.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Contrarily, the <i>artificial</i> method is to hear what other people say,
+      to learn and to read, and so to get your head crammed full of general
+      ideas before you have any sort of extended acquaintance with the world as
+      it is, and as you may see it for yourself. You will be told that the
+      particular observations which go to make these general ideas will come to
+      you later on in the course of experience; but until that time arrives, you
+      apply your general ideas wrongly, you judge men and things from a wrong
+      standpoint, you see them in a wrong light, and treat them in a wrong way.
+      So it is that education perverts the mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This explains why it so frequently happens that, after a long course of
+      learning and reading, we enter upon the world in our youth, partly with an
+      artless ignorance of things, partly with wrong notions about them; so that
+      our demeanor savors at one moment of a nervous anxiety, at another of a
+      mistaken confidence. The reason of this is simply that our head is full of
+      general ideas which we are now trying to turn to some use, but which we
+      hardly ever apply rightly. This is the result of acting in direct
+      opposition to the natural development of the mind by obtaining general
+      ideas first, and particular observations last: it is putting the cart
+      before the horse. Instead of developing the child's own faculties of
+      discernment, and teaching it to judge and think for itself, the teacher
+      uses all his energies to stuff its head full of the ready-made thoughts of
+      other people. The mistaken views of life, which spring from a false
+      application of general ideas, have afterwards to be corrected by long
+      years of experience; and it is seldom that they are wholly corrected. This
+      is why so few men of learning are possessed of common-sense, such as is
+      often to be met with in people who have had no instruction at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To acquire a knowledge of the world</i> might be defined as the aim of
+      all education; and it follows from what I have said that special stress
+      should be laid upon beginning to acquire this knowledge <i>at the right
+      end</i>. As I have shown, this means, in the main, that the particular
+      observation of a thing shall precede the general idea of it; further, that
+      narrow and circumscribed ideas shall come before ideas of a wide range. It
+      means, therefore, that the whole system of education shall follow in the
+      steps that must have been taken by the ideas themselves in the course of
+      their formation. But whenever any of these steps are skipped or left out,
+      the instruction is defective, and the ideas obtained are false; and
+      finally, a distorted view of the world arises, peculiar to the individual
+      himself&mdash;a view such as almost everyone entertains for some time, and
+      most men for as long as they live. No one can look into his own mind
+      without seeing that it was only after reaching a very mature age, and in
+      some cases when he least expected it, that he came to a right
+      understanding or a clear view of many matters in his life, that, after
+      all, were not very difficult or complicated. Up till then, they were
+      points in his knowledge of the world which were still obscure, due to his
+      having skipped some particular lesson in those early days of his
+      education, whatever it may have been like&mdash;whether artificial and
+      conventional, or of that natural kind which is based upon individual
+      experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It follows that an attempt should be made to find out the strictly natural
+      course of knowledge, so that education may proceed methodically by keeping
+      to it; and that children may become acquainted with the ways of the world,
+      without getting wrong ideas into their heads, which very often cannot be
+      got out again. If this plan were adopted, special care would have to be
+      taken to prevent children from using words without clearly understanding
+      their meaning and application. The fatal tendency to be satisfied with
+      words instead of trying to understand things&mdash;to learn phrases by
+      heart, so that they may prove a refuge in time of need, exists, as a rule,
+      even in children; and the tendency lasts on into manhood, making the
+      knowledge of many learned persons to consist in mere verbiage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the main endeavor must always be to let particular observations
+      precede general ideas, and not <i>vice versa</i>, as is usually and
+      unfortunately the case; as though a child should come feet foremost into
+      the world, or a verse be begun by writing down the rhyme! The ordinary
+      method is to imprint ideas and opinions, in the strict sense of the word,
+      <i>prejudices</i>, on the mind of the child, before it has had any but a
+      very few particular observations. It is thus that he afterwards comes to
+      view the world and gather experience through the medium of those
+      ready-made ideas, rather than to let his ideas be formed for him out of
+      his own experience of life, as they ought to be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man sees a great many things when he looks at the world for himself, and
+      he sees them from many sides; but this method of learning is not nearly so
+      short or so quick as the method which employs abstract ideas and makes
+      hasty generalizations about everything. Experience, therefore, will be a
+      long time in correcting preconceived ideas, or perhaps never bring its
+      task to an end; for wherever a man finds that the aspect of things seems
+      to contradict the general ideas he has formed, he will begin by rejecting
+      the evidence it offers as partial and one-sided; nay, he will shut his
+      eyes to it altogether and deny that it stands in any contradiction at all
+      with his preconceived notions, in order that he may thus preserve them
+      uninjured. So it is that many a man carries about a burden of wrong
+      notions all his life long&mdash;crotchets, whims, fancies, prejudices,
+      which at last become fixed ideas. The fact is that he has never tried to
+      form his fundamental ideas for himself out of his own experience of life,
+      his own way of looking at the world, because he has taken over his ideas
+      ready-made from other people; and this it is that makes him&mdash;as it
+      makes how many others!&mdash;so shallow and superficial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instead of that method of instruction, care should be taken to educate
+      children on the natural lines. No idea should ever be established in a
+      child's mind otherwise than by what the child can see for itself, or at
+      any rate it should be verified by the same means; and the result of this
+      would be that the child's ideas, if few, would be well-grounded and
+      accurate. It would learn how to measure things by its own standard rather
+      than by another's; and so it would escape a thousand strange fancies and
+      prejudices, and not need to have them eradicated by the lessons it will
+      subsequently be taught in the school of life. The child would, in this
+      way, have its mind once for all habituated to clear views and
+      thorough-going knowledge; it would use its own judgment and take an
+      unbiased estimate of things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, in general, children should not form their notions of what life is
+      like from the copy before they have learned it from the original, to
+      whatever aspect of it their attention may be directed. Instead, therefore,
+      of hastening to place <i>books</i>, and books alone, in their hands, let
+      them be made acquainted, step by step, with <i>things</i>&mdash;with the
+      actual circumstances of human life. And above all let care be taken to
+      bring them to a clear and objective view of the world as it is, to educate
+      them always to derive their ideas directly from real life, and to shape
+      them in conformity with it&mdash;not to fetch them from other sources,
+      such as books, fairy tales, or what people say&mdash;then to apply them
+      ready-made to real life. For this will mean that their heads are full of
+      wrong notions, and that they will either see things in a false light or
+      try in vain to <i>remodel the world</i> to suit their views, and so enter
+      upon false paths; and that, too, whether they are only constructing
+      theories of life or engaged in the actual business of it. It is incredible
+      how much harm is done when the seeds of wrong notions are laid in the mind
+      in those early years, later on to bear a crop of prejudice; for the
+      subsequent lessons, which are learned from real life in the world have to
+      be devoted mainly to their extirpation. <i>To unlearn the evil</i> was the
+      answer, according to Diogenes Laertius,<a href="#linknote-28"
+      name="linknoteref-28" id="linknoteref-28">28</a> Antisthenes gave, when he
+      was asked what branch of knowledge was most necessary; and we can see what
+      he meant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-28" id="linknote-28"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      28 (<a href="#linknoteref-28">return</a>)<br /> [ vi. 7.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No child under the age of fifteen should receive instruction in subjects
+      which may possibly be the vehicle of serious error, such as philosophy,
+      religion, or any other branch of knowledge where it is necessary to take
+      large views; because wrong notions imbibed early can seldom be rooted out,
+      and of all the intellectual faculties, judgment is the last to arrive at
+      maturity. The child should give its attention either to subjects where no
+      error is possible at all, such as mathematics, or to those in which there
+      is no particular danger in making a mistake, such as languages, natural
+      science, history and so on. And in general, the branches of knowledge
+      which are to be studied at any period of life should be such as the mind
+      is equal to at that period and can perfectly understand. Childhood and
+      youth form the time for collecting materials, for getting a special and
+      thorough knowledge of the individual and particular things. In those years
+      it is too early to form views on a large scale; and ultimate explanations
+      must be put off to a later date. The faculty of judgment, which cannot
+      come into play without mature experience, should be left to itself; and
+      care should be taken not to anticipate its action by inculcating
+      prejudice, which will paralyze it for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the other hand, the memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it
+      is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the
+      things that should be committed to memory the utmost care and forethought
+      must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten.
+      This precious soil must therefore be cultivated so as to bear as much
+      fruit as possible. If you think how deeply rooted in your memory are those
+      persons whom you knew in the first twelve years of your life, how
+      indelible the impression made upon you by the events of those years, how
+      clear your recollection of most of the things that happened to you then,
+      most of what was told or taught you, it will seem a natural thing to take
+      the susceptibility and tenacity of the mind at that period as the
+      ground-work of education. This may be done by a strict observance of
+      method, and a systematic regulation of the impressions which the mind is
+      to receive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the years of youth allotted to a man are short, and memory is, in
+      general, bound within narrow limits; still more so, the memory of any one
+      individual. Since this is the case, it is all-important to fill the memory
+      with what is essential and material in any branch of knowledge, to the
+      exclusion of everything else. The decision as to what is essential and
+      material should rest with the masterminds in every department of thought;
+      their choice should be made after the most mature deliberation, and the
+      outcome of it fixed and determined. Such a choice would have to proceed by
+      sifting the things which it is necessary and important for a man to know
+      in general, and then, necessary and important for him to know in any
+      particular business or calling. Knowledge of the first kind would have to
+      be classified, after an encyclopaedic fashion, in graduated courses,
+      adapted to the degree of general culture which a man may be expected to
+      have in the circumstances in which he is placed; beginning with a course
+      limited to the necessary requirements of primary education, and extending
+      upwards to the subjects treated of in all the branches of philosophical
+      thought. The regulation of the second kind of knowledge would be left to
+      those who had shown genuine mastery in the several departments into which
+      it is divided; and the whole system would provide an elaborate rule or
+      canon for intellectual education, which would, of course, have to be
+      revised every ten years. Some such arrangement as this would employ the
+      youthful power of the memory to best advantage, and supply excellent
+      working material to the faculty of judgment, when it made its appearance
+      later on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, it has reached
+      the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an individual, is
+      capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is established
+      between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he has actually
+      perceived for himself. This will mean that each of his abstract ideas
+      rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of observation, which alone
+      endows it with any real value; and also that he is able to place every
+      observation he makes under the right abstract idea which belongs to it.
+      Maturity is the work of experience alone; and therefore it requires time.
+      The knowledge we derive from our own observation is usually distinct from
+      that which we acquire through the medium of abstract ideas; the one coming
+      to us in the natural way, the other by what people tell us, and the course
+      of instruction we receive, whether it is good or bad. The result is, that
+      in youth there is generally very little agreement or correspondence
+      between our abstract ideas, which are merely phrases in the mind, and that
+      real knowledge which we have obtained by our own observation. It is only
+      later on that a gradual approach takes place between these two kinds of
+      knowledge, accompanied by a mutual correction of error; and knowledge is
+      not mature until this coalition is accomplished. This maturity or
+      perfection of knowledge is something quite independent of another kind of
+      perfection, which may be of a high or a low order&mdash;the perfection, I
+      mean, to which a man may bring his own individual faculties; which is
+      measured, not by any correspondence between the two kinds of knowledge,
+      but by the degree of intensity which each kind attains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the practical man the most needful thing is to acquire an accurate and
+      profound knowledge of <i>the ways of the world</i>. But this, though the
+      most needful, is also the most wearisome of all studies, as a man may
+      reach a great age without coming to the end of his task; whereas, in the
+      domain of the sciences, he masters the more important facts when he is
+      still young. In acquiring that knowledge of the world, it is while he is a
+      novice, namely, in boyhood and in youth, that the first and hardest
+      lessons are put before him; but it often happens that even in later years
+      there is still a great deal to be learned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study is difficult enough in itself; but the difficulty is doubled by
+      <i>novels</i>, which represent a state of things in life and the world,
+      such as, in fact, does not exist. Youth is credulous, and accepts these
+      views of life, which then become part and parcel of the mind; so that,
+      instead of a merely negative condition of ignorance, you have positive
+      error&mdash;a whole tissue of false notions to start with; and at a later
+      date these actually spoil the schooling of experience, and put a wrong
+      construction on the lessons it teaches. If, before this, the youth had no
+      light at all to guide him, he is now misled by a will-o'-the-wisp; still
+      more often is this the case with a girl. They have both had a false view
+      of things foisted on them by reading novels; and expectations have been
+      aroused which can never be fulfilled. This generally exercises a baneful
+      influence on their whole life. In this respect those whose youth has
+      allowed them no time or opportunity for reading novels&mdash;those who
+      work with their hands and the like&mdash;are in a position of decided
+      advantage. There are a few novels to which this reproach cannot be
+      addressed&mdash;nay, which have an effect the contrary of bad. First and
+      foremost, to give an example, <i>Gil Blas</i>, and the other works of Le
+      Sage (or rather their Spanish originals); further, <i>The Vicar of
+      Wakefield</i>, and, to some extent Sir Walter Scott's novels. <i>Don
+      Quixote</i> may be regarded as a satirical exhibition of the error to
+      which I am referring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      OF WOMEN.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Schiller's poem in honor of women, <i>Würde der Frauen</i>, is the result
+      of much careful thought, and it appeals to the reader by its antithetic
+      style and its use of contrast; but as an expression of the true praise
+      which should be accorded to them, it is, I think, inferior to these few
+      words of Jouy's: <i>Without women, the beginning of our life would be
+      helpless; the middle, devoid of pleasure; and the end, of consolation</i>.
+      The same thing is more feelingly expressed by Byron in <i>Sardanapalus</i>:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                 <i>The very first
+  Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
+  Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
+  Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
+  Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
+  When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
+  Of watching the last hour of him who led them</i>.
+
+  (Act I Scene 2.)
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      These two passages indicate the right standpoint for the appreciation of
+      women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that woman is
+      not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of the body. She
+      pays the debt of life not by what she does, but by what she suffers; by
+      the pains of child-bearing and care for the child, and by submission to
+      her husband, to whom she should be a patient and cheering companion. The
+      keenest sorrows and joys are not for her, nor is she called upon to
+      display a great deal of strength. The current of her life should be more
+      gentle, peaceful and trivial than man's, without being essentially happier
+      or unhappier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Women are directly fitted for acting as the nurses and teachers of our
+      early childhood by the fact that they are themselves childish, frivolous
+      and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all their life long&mdash;a
+      kind of intermediate stage between the child and the full-grown man, who
+      is man in the strict sense of the word. See how a girl will fondle a child
+      for days together, dance with it and sing to it; and then think what a
+      man, with the best will in the world, could do if he were put in her
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With young girls Nature seems to have had in view what, in the language of
+      the drama, is called <i>a striking effect</i>; as for a few years she
+      dowers them with a wealth of beauty and is lavish in her gift of charm, at
+      the expense of all the rest of their life; so that during those years they
+      may capture the fantasy of some man to such a degree that he is hurried
+      away into undertaking the honorable care of them, in some form or other,
+      as long as they live&mdash;a step for which there would not appear to be
+      any sufficient warranty if reason only directed his thoughts. Accordingly,
+      Nature has equipped woman, as she does all her creatures, with the weapons
+      and implements requisite for the safeguarding of her existence, and for
+      just as long as it is necessary for her to have them. Here, as elsewhere,
+      Nature proceeds with her usual economy; for just as the female ant, after
+      fecundation, loses her wings, which are then superfluous, nay, actually a
+      danger to the business of breeding; so, after giving birth to one or two
+      children, a woman generally loses her beauty; probably, indeed, for
+      similar reasons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so we find that young girls, in their hearts, look upon domestic
+      affairs or work of any kind as of secondary importance, if not actually as
+      a mere jest. The only business that really claims their earnest attention
+      is love, making conquests, and everything connected with this&mdash;dress,
+      dancing, and so on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is in
+      arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning powers
+      and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a woman at
+      eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only reason of a sort&mdash;very
+      niggard in its dimensions. That is why women remain children their whole
+      life long; never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, cleaving
+      to the present moment, taking appearance for reality, and preferring
+      trifles to matters of the first importance. For it is by virtue of his
+      reasoning faculty that man does not live in the present only, like the
+      brute, but looks about him and considers the past and the future; and this
+      is the origin of prudence, as well as of that care and anxiety which so
+      many people exhibit. Both the advantages and the disadvantages which this
+      involves, are shared in by the woman to a smaller extent because of her
+      weaker power of reasoning. She may, in fact, be described as
+      intellectually short-sighted, because, while she has an intuitive
+      understanding of what lies quite close to her, her field of vision is
+      narrow and does not reach to what is remote; so that things which are
+      absent, or past, or to come, have much less effect upon women than upon
+      men. This is the reason why women are more often inclined to be
+      extravagant, and sometimes carry their inclination to a length that
+      borders upon madness. In their hearts, women think that it is men's
+      business to earn money and theirs to spend it&mdash;- if possible during
+      their husband's life, but, at any rate, after his death. The very fact
+      that their husband hands them over his earnings for purposes of
+      housekeeping, strengthens them in this belief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However many disadvantages all this may involve, there is at least this to
+      be said in its favor; that the woman lives more in the present than the
+      man, and that, if the present is at all tolerable, she enjoys it more
+      eagerly. This is the source of that cheerfulness which is peculiar to
+      women, fitting her to amuse man in his hours of recreation, and, in case
+      of need, to console him when he is borne down by the weight of his cares.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is by no means a bad plan to consult women in matters of difficulty, as
+      the Germans used to do in ancient times; for their way of looking at
+      things is quite different from ours, chiefly in the fact that they like to
+      take the shortest way to their goal, and, in general, manage to fix their
+      eyes upon what lies before them; while we, as a rule, see far beyond it,
+      just because it is in front of our noses. In cases like this, we need to
+      be brought back to the right standpoint, so as to recover the near and
+      simple view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, again, women are decidedly more sober in their judgment than we are,
+      so that they do not see more in things than is really there; whilst, if
+      our passions are aroused, we are apt to see things in an exaggerated way,
+      or imagine what does not exist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why it is that women
+      show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men do, and so treat them with
+      more kindness and interest; and why it is that, on the contrary, they are
+      inferior to men in point of justice, and less honorable and conscientious.
+      For it is just because their reasoning power is weak that present
+      circumstances have such a hold over them, and those concrete things, which
+      lie directly before their eyes, exercise a power which is seldom
+      counteracted to any extent by abstract principles of thought, by fixed
+      rules of conduct, firm resolutions, or, in general, by consideration for
+      the past and the future, or regard for what is absent and remote.
+      Accordingly, they possess the first and main elements that go to make a
+      virtuous character, but they are deficient in those secondary qualities
+      which are often a necessary instrument in the formation of it.<a
+      href="#linknote-29" name="linknoteref-29" id="linknoteref-29">29</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-29" id="linknote-29"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      29 (<a href="#linknoteref-29">return</a>)<br /> [ In this respect they may
+      be compared to an animal organism which contains a liver but no
+      gall-bladder. Here let me refer to what I have said in my treatise on <i>The
+      Foundation of Morals</i>, § 17.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hence, it will be found that the fundamental fault of the female character
+      is that it has <i>no sense of justice</i>. This is mainly due to the fact,
+      already mentioned, that women are defective in the powers of reasoning and
+      deliberation; but it is also traceable to the position which Nature has
+      assigned to them as the weaker sex. They are dependent, not upon strength,
+      but upon craft; and hence their instinctive capacity for cunning, and
+      their ineradicable tendency to say what is not true. For as lions are
+      provided with claws and teeth, and elephants and boars with tusks, bulls
+      with horns, and cuttle fish with its clouds of inky fluid, so Nature has
+      equipped woman, for her defence and protection, with the arts of
+      dissimulation; and all the power which Nature has conferred upon man in
+      the shape of physical strength and reason, has been bestowed upon women in
+      this form. Hence, dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a
+      quality of the stupid as of the clever. It is as natural for them to make
+      use of it on every occasion as it is for those animals to employ their
+      means of defence when they are attacked; they have a feeling that in doing
+      so they are only within their rights. Therefore a woman who is perfectly
+      truthful and not given to dissimulation is perhaps an impossibility, and
+      for this very reason they are so quick at seeing through dissimulation in
+      others that it is not a wise thing to attempt it with them. But this
+      fundamental defect which I have stated, with all that it entails, gives
+      rise to falsity, faithlessness, treachery, ingratitude, and so on. Perjury
+      in a court of justice is more often committed by women than by men. It
+      may, indeed, be generally questioned whether women ought to be sworn in at
+      all. From time to time one finds repeated cases everywhere of ladies, who
+      want for nothing, taking things from shop-counters when no one is looking,
+      and making off with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nature has appointed that the propagation of the species shall be the
+      business of men who are young, strong and handsome; so that the race may
+      not degenerate. This is the firm will and purpose of Nature in regard to
+      the species, and it finds its expression in the passions of women. There
+      is no law that is older or more powerful than this. Woe, then, to the man
+      who sets up claims and interests that will conflict with it; whatever he
+      may say and do, they will be unmercifully crushed at the first serious
+      encounter. For the innate rule that governs women's conduct, though it is
+      secret and unformulated, nay, unconscious in its working, is this: <i>We
+      are justified in deceiving those who think they have acquired rights over
+      the species by paying little attention to the individual, that is, to us.
+      The constitution and, therefore, the welfare of the species have been
+      placed in our hands and committed to our care, through the control we
+      obtain over the next generation, which proceeds from us; let us discharge
+      our duties conscientiously</i>. But women have no abstract knowledge of
+      this leading principle; they are conscious of it only as a concrete fact;
+      and they have no other method of giving expression to it than the way in
+      which they act when the opportunity arrives. And then their conscience
+      does not trouble them so much as we fancy; for in the darkest recesses of
+      their heart, they are aware that in committing a breach of their duty
+      towards the individual, they have all the better fulfilled their duty
+      towards the species, which is infinitely greater.<a href="#linknote-30"
+      name="linknoteref-30" id="linknoteref-30">30</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-30" id="linknote-30"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      30 (<a href="#linknoteref-30">return</a>)<br /> [ A more detailed
+      discussion of the matter in question may be found in my chief work, <i>Die
+      Welt als Wille und Vorstellung</i>, vol. ii, ch. 44.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And since women exist in the main solely for the propagation of the
+      species, and are not destined for anything else, they live, as a rule,
+      more for the species than for the individual, and in their hearts take the
+      affairs of the species more seriously than those of the individual. This
+      gives their whole life and being a certain levity; the general bent of
+      their character is in a direction fundamentally different from that of
+      man; and it is this to which produces that discord in married life which
+      is so frequent, and almost the normal state.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The natural feeling between men is mere indifference, but between women it
+      is actual enmity. The reason of this is that trade-jealousy&mdash;<i>odium
+      figulinum</i>&mdash;which, in the case of men does not go beyond the
+      confines of their own particular pursuit; but, with women, embraces the
+      whole sex; since they have only one kind of business. Even when they meet
+      in the street, women look at one another like Guelphs and Ghibellines. And
+      it is a patent fact that when two women make first acquaintance with each
+      other, they behave with more constraint and dissimulation than two men
+      would show in a like case; and hence it is that an exchange of compliments
+      between two women is a much more ridiculous proceeding than between two
+      men. Further, whilst a man will, as a general rule, always preserve a
+      certain amount of consideration and humanity in speaking to others, even
+      to those who are in a very inferior position, it is intolerable to see how
+      proudly and disdainfully a fine lady will generally behave towards one who
+      is in a lower social rank (I do not mean a woman who is in her service),
+      whenever she speaks to her. The reason of this may be that, with women,
+      differences of rank are much more precarious than with us; because, while
+      a hundred considerations carry weight in our case, in theirs there is only
+      one, namely, with which man they have found favor; as also that they stand
+      in much nearer relations with one another than men do, in consequence of
+      the one-sided nature of their calling. This makes them endeavor to lay
+      stress upon differences of rank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is only the man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulses that
+      could give the name of <i>the fair sex</i> to that under-sized,
+      narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged race; for the whole
+      beauty of the sex is bound up with this impulse. Instead of calling them
+      beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as the
+      un-aesthetic sex. Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine art,
+      have they really and truly any sense or susceptibility; it is a mere
+      mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their endeavor to
+      please. Hence, as a result of this, they are incapable of taking a <i>purely
+      objective interest</i> in anything; and the reason of it seems to me to be
+      as follows. A man tries to acquire <i>direct</i> mastery over things,
+      either by understanding them, or by forcing them to do his will. But a
+      woman is always and everywhere reduced to obtaining this mastery <i>indirectly</i>,
+      namely, through a man; and whatever direct mastery she may have is
+      entirely confined to him. And so it lies in woman's nature to look upon
+      everything only as a means for conquering man; and if she takes an
+      interest in anything else, it is simulated&mdash;a mere roundabout way of
+      gaining her ends by coquetry, and feigning what she does not feel. Hence,
+      even Rousseau declared: <i>Women have, in general, no love for any art;
+      they have no proper knowledge of any; and they have no genius</i>.<a
+      href="#linknote-31" name="linknoteref-31" id="linknoteref-31">31</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-31" id="linknote-31"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      31 (<a href="#linknoteref-31">return</a>)<br /> [ Lettre à d'Alembert, Note
+      xx.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one who sees at all below the surface can have failed to remark the
+      same thing. You need only observe the kind of attention women bestow upon
+      a concert, an opera, or a play&mdash;the childish simplicity, for example,
+      with which they keep on chattering during the finest passages in the
+      greatest masterpieces. If it is true that the Greeks excluded women from
+      their theatres they were quite right in what they did; at any rate you
+      would have been able to hear what was said upon the stage. In our day,
+      besides, or in lieu of saying, <i>Let a woman keep silence in the church</i>,
+      it would be much to the point to say <i>Let a woman keep silence in the
+      theatre</i>. This might, perhaps, be put up in big letters on the curtain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And you cannot expect anything else of women if you consider that the most
+      distinguished intellects among the whole sex have never managed to produce
+      a single achievement in the fine arts that is really great, genuine, and
+      original; or given to the world any work of permanent value in any sphere.
+      This is most strikingly shown in regard to painting, where mastery of
+      technique is at least as much within their power as within ours&mdash;and
+      hence they are diligent in cultivating it; but still, they have not a
+      single great painting to boast of, just because they are deficient in that
+      objectivity of mind which is so directly indispensable in painting. They
+      never get beyond a subjective point of view. It is quite in keeping with
+      this that ordinary women have no real susceptibility for art at all; for
+      Nature proceeds in strict sequence&mdash;<i>non facit saltum</i>. And
+      Huarte<a href="#linknote-32" name="linknoteref-32" id="linknoteref-32">32</a>
+      in his <i>Examen de ingenios para las scienzias</i>&mdash;a book which has
+      been famous for three hundred years&mdash;denies women the possession of
+      all the higher faculties. The case is not altered by particular and
+      partial exceptions; taken as a whole, women are, and remain,
+      thorough-going Philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd
+      arrangement which allows them to share the rank and title of their
+      husbands they are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. And,
+      further, it is just because they are Philistines that modern society,
+      where they take the lead and set the tone, is in such a bad way.
+      Napoleon's saying&mdash;that <i>women have no rank</i>&mdash;should be
+      adopted as the right standpoint in determining their position in society;
+      and as regards their other qualities Chamfort<a href="#linknote-33"
+      name="linknoteref-33" id="linknoteref-33">33</a> makes the very true
+      remark: <i>They are made to trade with our own weaknesses and our follies,
+      but not with our reason. The sympathies that exist between them and men
+      are skin-deep only, and do not touch the mind or the feelings or the
+      character</i>. They form the <i>sexus sequior</i>&mdash;the second sex,
+      inferior in every respect to the first; their infirmities should be
+      treated with consideration; but to show them great reverence is extremely
+      ridiculous, and lowers us in their eyes. When Nature made two divisions of
+      the human race, she did not draw the line exactly through the middle.
+      These divisions are polar and opposed to each other, it is true; but the
+      difference between them is not qualitative merely, it is also
+      quantitative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-32" id="linknote-32"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      32 (<a href="#linknoteref-32">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;-
+      Juan Huarte (1520?-1590) practised as a physician at Madrid. The work
+      cited by Schopenhauer is known, and has been translated into many
+      languages.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-33" id="linknote-33"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      33 (<a href="#linknoteref-33">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;See
+      <i>Counsels and Maxims</i>, p. 12, Note.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is just the view which the ancients took of woman, and the view which
+      people in the East take now; and their judgment as to her proper position
+      is much more correct than ours, with our old French notions of gallantry
+      and our preposterous system of reverence&mdash;that highest product of
+      Teutonico-Christian stupidity. These notions have served only to make
+      women more arrogant and overbearing; so that one is occasionally reminded
+      of the holy apes in Benares, who in the consciousness of their sanctity
+      and inviolable position, think they can do exactly as they please.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the West, the woman, and especially the <i>lady</i>, finds herself
+      in a false position; for woman, rightly called by the ancients, <i>sexus
+      sequior</i>, is by no means fit to be the object of our honor and
+      veneration, or to hold her head higher than man and be on equal terms with
+      him. The consequences of this false position are sufficiently obvious.
+      Accordingly, it would be a very desirable thing if this Number-Two of the
+      human race were in Europe also relegated to her natural place, and an end
+      put to that lady nuisance, which not only moves all Asia to laughter, but
+      would have been ridiculed by Greece and Rome as well. It is impossible to
+      calculate the good effects which such a change would bring about in our
+      social, civil and political arrangements. There would be no necessity for
+      the Salic law: it would be a superfluous truism. In Europe the <i>lady</i>,
+      strictly so-called, is a being who should not exist at all; she should be
+      either a housewife or a girl who hopes to become one; and she should be
+      brought up, not to be arrogant, but to be thrifty and submissive. It is
+      just because there are such people as <i>ladies</i> in Europe that the
+      women of the lower classes, that is to say, the great majority of the sex,
+      are much more unhappy than they are in the East. And even Lord Byron says:
+      <i>Thought of the state of women under the ancient Greeks&mdash;convenient
+      enough. Present state, a remnant of the barbarism of the chivalric and the
+      feudal ages&mdash;artificial and unnatural. They ought to mind home&mdash;and
+      be well fed and clothed&mdash;but not mixed in society. Well educated,
+      too, in religion&mdash;but to read neither poetry nor politics&mdash;
+      nothing but books of piety and cookery. Music&mdash;drawing&mdash;dancing&mdash;also
+      a little gardening and ploughing now and then. I have seen them mending
+      the roads in Epirus with good success. Why not, as well as hay-making and
+      milking</i>?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The laws of marriage prevailing in Europe consider the woman as the
+      equivalent of the man&mdash;start, that is to say, from a wrong position.
+      In our part of the world where monogamy is the rule, to marry means to
+      halve one's rights and double one's duties. Now, when the laws gave women
+      equal rights with man, they ought to have also endowed her with a
+      masculine intellect. But the fact is, that just in proportion as the
+      honors and privileges which the laws accord to women, exceed the amount
+      which nature gives, is there a diminution in the number of women who
+      really participate in these privileges; and all the remainder are deprived
+      of their natural rights by just so much as is given to the others over and
+      above their share. For the institution of monogamy, and the laws of
+      marriage which it entails, bestow upon the woman an unnatural position of
+      privilege, by considering her throughout as the full equivalent of the
+      man, which is by no means the case; and seeing this, men who are shrewd
+      and prudent very often scruple to make so great a sacrifice and to
+      acquiesce in so unfair an arrangement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Consequently, whilst among polygamous nations every woman is provided for,
+      where monogamy prevails the number of married women is limited; and there
+      remains over a large number of women without stay or support, who, in the
+      upper classes, vegetate as useless old maids, and in the lower succumb to
+      hard work for which they are not suited; or else become <i>filles de joie</i>,
+      whose life is as destitute of joy as it is of honor. But under the
+      circumstances they become a necessity; and their position is openly
+      recognized as serving the special end of warding off temptation from those
+      women favored by fate, who have found, or may hope to find, husbands. In
+      London alone there are 80,000 prostitutes. What are they but the women,
+      who, under the institution of monogamy have come off worse? Theirs is a
+      dreadful fate: they are human sacrifices offered up on the altar of
+      monogamy. The women whose wretched position is here described are the
+      inevitable set-off to the European lady with her arrogance and pretension.
+      Polygamy is therefore a real benefit to the female sex if it is taken as a
+      whole. And, from another point of view, there is no true reason why a man
+      whose wife suffers from chronic illness, or remains barren, or has
+      gradually become too old for him, should not take a second. The motives
+      which induce so many people to become converts to Mormonism<a
+      href="#linknote-34" name="linknoteref-34" id="linknoteref-34">34</a>
+      appear to be just those which militate against the unnatural institution
+      of monogamy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-34" id="linknote-34"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      34 (<a href="#linknoteref-34">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;The
+      Mormons have recently given up polygamy, and received the American
+      franchise in its stead.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, the bestowal of unnatural rights upon women has imposed upon
+      them unnatural duties, and, nevertheless, a breach of these duties makes
+      them unhappy. Let me explain. A man may often think that his social or
+      financial position will suffer if he marries, unless he makes some
+      brilliant alliance. His desire will then be to win a woman of his own
+      choice under conditions other than those of marriage, such as will secure
+      her position and that of the children. However fair, reasonable, fit and
+      proper these conditions may be, and the woman consents by foregoing that
+      undue amount of privilege which marriage alone can bestow, she to some
+      extent loses her honor, because marriage is the basis of civic society;
+      and she will lead an unhappy life, since human nature is so constituted
+      that we pay an attention to the opinion of other people which is out of
+      all proportion to its value. On the other hand, if she does not consent,
+      she runs the risk either of having to be given in marriage to a man whom
+      she does not like, or of being landed high and dry as an old maid; for the
+      period during which she has a chance of being settled for life is very
+      short. And in view of this aspect of the institution of monogamy,
+      Thomasius' profoundly learned treatise, <i>de Concubinatu</i>, is well
+      worth reading; for it shows that, amongst all nations and in all ages,
+      down to the Lutheran Reformation, concubinage was permitted; nay, that it
+      was an institution which was to a certain extent actually recognized by
+      law, and attended with no dishonor. It was only the Lutheran Reformation
+      that degraded it from this position. It was seen to be a further
+      justification for the marriage of the clergy; and then, after that, the
+      Catholic Church did not dare to remain behind-hand in the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is no use arguing about polygamy; it must be taken as <i>de facto</i>
+      existing everywhere, and the only question is as to how it shall be
+      regulated. Where are there, then, any real monogamists? We all live, at
+      any rate, for a time, and most of us, always, in polygamy. And so, since
+      every man needs many women, there is nothing fairer than to allow him,
+      nay, to make it incumbent upon him, to provide for many women. This will
+      reduce woman to her true and natural position as a subordinate being; and
+      the <i>lady</i>&mdash;that monster of European civilization and
+      Teutonico-Christian stupidity&mdash;will disappear from the world, leaving
+      only <i>women</i>, but no more <i>unhappy women</i>, of whom Europe is now
+      full.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In India, no woman is ever independent, but in accordance with the law of
+      Mamu,<a href="#linknote-35" name="linknoteref-35" id="linknoteref-35">35</a>
+      she stands under the control of her father, her husband, her brother or
+      her son. It is, to be sure, a revolting thing that a widow should immolate
+      herself upon her husband's funeral pyre; but it is also revolting that she
+      should spend her husband's money with her paramours&mdash;the money for
+      which he toiled his whole life long, in the consoling belief that he was
+      providing for his children. Happy are those who have kept the middle
+      course&mdash;<i>medium tenuere beati</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-35" id="linknote-35"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      35 (<a href="#linknoteref-35">return</a>)<br /> [ Ch. V., v. 148.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first love of a mother for her child is, with the lower animals as
+      with men, of a purely <i>instinctive</i> character, and so it ceases when
+      the child is no longer in a physically helpless condition. After that, the
+      first love should give way to one that is based on habit and reason; but
+      this often fails to make its appearance, especially where the mother did
+      not love the father. The love of a father for his child is of a different
+      order, and more likely to last; because it has its foundation in the fact
+      that in the child he recognizes his own inner self; that is to say, his
+      love for it is metaphysical in its origin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In almost all nations, whether of the ancient or the modern world, even
+      amongst the Hottentots,<a href="#linknote-36" name="linknoteref-36"
+      id="linknoteref-36">36</a> property is inherited by the male descendants
+      alone; it is only in Europe that a departure has taken place; but not
+      amongst the nobility, however. That the property which has cost men long
+      years of toil and effort, and been won with so much difficulty, should
+      afterwards come into the hands of women, who then, in their lack of
+      reason, squander it in a short time, or otherwise fool it away, is a
+      grievance and a wrong as serious as it is common, which should be
+      prevented by limiting the right of women to inherit. In my opinion, the
+      best arrangement would be that by which women, whether widows or
+      daughters, should never receive anything beyond the interest for life on
+      property secured by mortgage, and in no case the property itself, or the
+      capital, except where all male descendants fail. The people who make money
+      are men, not women; and it follows from this that women are neither
+      justified in having unconditional possession of it, nor fit persons to be
+      entrusted with its administration. <a href="#linknote-37"
+      name="linknoteref-37" id="linknoteref-37">37</a>When wealth, in any true
+      sense of the word, that is to say, funds, houses or land, is to go to them
+      as an inheritance they should never be allowed the free disposition of it.
+      In their case a guardian should always be appointed; and hence they should
+      never be given the free control of their own children, wherever it can be
+      avoided. The vanity of women, even though it should not prove to be
+      greater than that of men, has this much danger in it, that it takes an
+      entirely material direction. They are vain, I mean, of their personal
+      beauty, and then of finery, show and magnificence. That is just why they
+      are so much in their element in society. It is this, too, which makes them
+      so inclined to be extravagant, all the more as their reasoning power is
+      low. Accordingly we find an ancient writer describing woman as in general
+      of an extravagant nature&mdash;[Greek: Gynae to synolon esti dapanaeron
+      Physei][2] But with men vanity often takes the direction of non-material
+      advantages, such as intellect, learning, courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-36" id="linknote-36"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      36 (<a href="#linknoteref-36">return</a>)<br /> [ Leroy, <i>Lettres
+      philosophiques sur l'intelligence et la perfectibilité des animaux, avec
+      quelques lettres sur l'homme</i>, p. 298, Paris, 1802.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-37" id="linknote-37"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      37 (<a href="#linknoteref-37">return</a>)<br /> [ Brunck's <i>Gnomici
+      poetae graeci</i>, v. 115.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the <i>Politics</i><a href="#linknote-38" name="linknoteref-38"
+      id="linknoteref-38">38</a> Aristotle explains the great disadvantage which
+      accrued to the Spartans from the fact that they conceded too much to their
+      women, by giving them the right of inheritance and dower, and a great
+      amount of independence; and he shows how much this contributed to Sparta's
+      fall. May it not be the case in France that the influence of women, which
+      went on increasing steadily from the time of Louis XIII., was to blame for
+      that gradual corruption of the Court and the Government, which brought
+      about the Revolution of 1789, of which all subsequent disturbances have
+      been the fruit? However that may be, the false position which women
+      occupy, demonstrated as it is, in the most glaring way, by the institution
+      of the <i>lady</i>, is a fundamental defect in our social scheme, and this
+      defect, proceeding from the very heart of it, must spread its baneful
+      influence in all directions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-38" id="linknote-38"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      38 (<a href="#linknoteref-38">return</a>)<br /> [ Bk. I, ch. 9.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      That woman is by nature meant to obey may be seen by the fact that every
+      woman who is placed in the unnatural position of complete independence,
+      immediately attaches herself to some man, by whom she allows herself to be
+      guided and ruled. It is because she needs a lord and master. If she is
+      young, it will be a lover; if she is old, a priest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON NOISE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Kant wrote a treatise on <i>The Vital Powers</i>. I should prefer to write
+      a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the
+      form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily
+      torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true&mdash;nay, a
+      great many people&mdash;who smile at such things, because they are not
+      sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are also not
+      sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any
+      kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of
+      their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand,
+      noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost
+      all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are
+      recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance,
+      Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer
+      has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of an
+      opportunity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large
+      diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a
+      whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its
+      strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as
+      soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and
+      drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its
+      power of concentration&mdash;of bringing all its strength to bear upon one
+      theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the
+      rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to
+      this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such
+      an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in
+      upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that
+      violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much
+      put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all
+      nations in Europe lays down the rule, <i>Never Interrupt</i>! as the
+      eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of
+      interruption. It is not only an interruption, but also a disruption of
+      thought. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be
+      so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but
+      constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I
+      become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the
+      labor of thinking&mdash;just as though I were trying to walk with a weight
+      on my foot. At last I find out what it is. Let me now, however, pass from
+      genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is
+      the cracking of whips&mdash;a truly infernal thing when it is done in the
+      narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful
+      life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That this cracking
+      of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way
+      how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with
+      anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at
+      this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of
+      reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must
+      disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some
+      sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is
+      woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the
+      executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so
+      shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips;
+      you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the
+      brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same
+      length of time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really
+      cannot see why a fellow who is taking away a wagon-load of gravel or dung
+      should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may
+      happen to be springing up in ten thousand heads&mdash;the number he will
+      disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town.
+      Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to
+      hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it
+      exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet
+      thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other
+      way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all
+      noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This
+      cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its
+      aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but
+      through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the
+      sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all.
+      The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of
+      this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver,
+      while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he
+      were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have
+      much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to
+      crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its
+      presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For
+      it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are
+      sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that
+      we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are
+      furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure
+      wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the
+      community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands.
+      That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and
+      iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice
+      to the effect that every lash shall have a knot at the end of it. There
+      can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the
+      classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is
+      mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the
+      narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or
+      cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his
+      might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good
+      blows with a stick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to
+      advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never
+      persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than
+      what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking
+      along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away
+      incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of
+      the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs
+      of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the
+      thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the
+      slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of
+      respect? Carters, porters, messengers&mdash;these are the beasts of burden
+      amongst mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly,
+      indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand
+      in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise.
+      How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been
+      lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I
+      should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble
+      association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will
+      make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take
+      example by it and follow suit.<a href="#linknote-39" name="linknoteref-39"
+      id="linknoteref-39">39</a> Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of
+      them<a href="#linknote-40" name="linknoteref-40" id="linknoteref-40">40</a>:
+      <i>For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with</i>. That
+      they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a
+      noise than other people&mdash;they would deny it if you asked them&mdash;but
+      that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it
+      does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or
+      thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is
+      their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise&mdash;the
+      slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing&mdash;is
+      direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of
+      thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should
+      ever think for mere noise&mdash;to mention one form of it, the way in
+      which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-39" id="linknote-39"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      39 (<a href="#linknoteref-39">return</a>)<br /> [ According to a notice
+      issued by the Society for the Protection of Animals in Munich, the
+      superfluous whipping and the cracking of whips were, in December, 1858,
+      positively forbidden in Nuremberg.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-40" id="linknote-40"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      40 (<a href="#linknoteref-40">return</a>)<br /> [ In <i>Up the Rhine</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this
+      chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer
+      to a poetical epistle in <i>terzo rimo</i> by the famous painter Bronzino,
+      entitled <i>De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini</i>. It gives a detailed
+      description of the torture to which people are put by the various noises
+      of a small Italian town. Written in a tragicomic style, it is very
+      amusing. The epistle may be found in <i>Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino
+      ed altri</i>, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrecht in 1771.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      A FEW PARABLES.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In a field of ripening corn I came to a place which had been trampled down
+      by some ruthless foot; and as I glanced amongst the countless stalks,
+      every one of them alike, standing there so erect and bearing the full
+      weight of the ear, I saw a multitude of different flowers, red and blue
+      and violet. How pretty they looked as they grew there so naturally with
+      their little foliage! But, thought I, they are quite useless; they bear no
+      fruit; they are mere weeds, suffered to remain only because there is no
+      getting rid of them. And yet, but for these flowers, there would be
+      nothing to charm the eye in that wilderness of stalks. They are emblematic
+      of poetry and art, which, in civic life&mdash;so severe, but still useful
+      and not without its fruit&mdash;play the same part as flowers in the corn.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      There are some really beautifully landscapes in the world, but the human
+      figures in them are poor, and you had not better look at them.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      The fly should be used as the symbol of impertinence and audacity; for
+      whilst all other animals shun man more than anything else, and run away
+      even before he comes near them, the fly lights upon his very nose.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Two Chinamen traveling in Europe went to the theatre for the first time.
+      One of them did nothing but study the machinery, and he succeeded in
+      finding out how it was worked. The other tried to get at the meaning of
+      the piece in spite of his ignorance of the language. Here you have the
+      Astronomer and the Philosopher.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Wisdom which is only theoretical and never put into practice, is like a
+      double rose; its color and perfume are delightful, but it withers away and
+      leaves no seed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No rose without a thorn. Yes, but many a thorn without a rose.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      A wide-spreading apple-tree stood in full bloom, and behind it a straight
+      fir raised its dark and tapering head. <i>Look at the thousands of gay
+      blossoms which cover me everywhere</i>, said the apple-tree; <i>what have
+      you to show in comparison? Dark-green needles! That is true</i>, replied
+      the fir, <i>but when winter comes, you will be bared of your glory; and I
+      shall be as I am now</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Once, as I was botanizing under an oak, I found amongst a number of other
+      plants of similar height one that was dark in color, with tightly closed
+      leaves and a stalk that was very straight and stiff. When I touched it, it
+      said to me in firm tones: <i>Let me alone; I am not for your collection,
+      like these plants to which Nature has given only a single year of life. I
+      am a little oak</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it is with a man whose influence is to last for hundreds of years. As a
+      child, as a youth, often even as a full-grown man, nay, his whole life
+      long, he goes about among his fellows, looking like them and seemingly as
+      unimportant. But let him alone; he will not die. Time will come and bring
+      those who know how to value him.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      The man who goes up in a balloon does not feel as though he were
+      ascending; he only sees the earth sinking deeper under him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is a mystery which only those will understand who feel the truth of
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Your estimation of a man's size will be affected by the distance at which
+      you stand from him, but in two entirely opposite ways according as it is
+      his physical or his mental stature that you are considering. The one will
+      seem smaller, the farther off you move; the other, greater.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Nature covers all her works with a varnish of beauty, like the tender
+      bloom that is breathed, as it were, on the surface of a peach or a plum.
+      Painters and poets lay themselves out to take off this varnish, to store
+      it up, and give it us to be enjoyed at our leisure. We drink deep of this
+      beauty long before we enter upon life itself; and when afterwards we come
+      to see the works of Nature for ourselves, the varnish is gone: the artists
+      have used it up and we have enjoyed it in advance. Thus it is that the
+      world so often appears harsh and devoid of charm, nay, actually repulsive.
+      It were better to leave us to discover the varnish for ourselves. This
+      would mean that we should not enjoy it all at once and in large
+      quantities; we should have no finished pictures, no perfect poems; but we
+      should look at all things in that genial and pleasing light in which even
+      now a child of Nature sometimes sees them&mdash;some one who has not
+      anticipated his aesthetic pleasures by the help of art, or taken the
+      charms of life too early.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      The Cathedral in Mayence is so shut in by the houses that are built round
+      about it, that there is no one spot from which you can see it as a whole.
+      This is symbolic of everything great or beautiful in the world. It ought
+      to exist for its own sake alone, but before very long it is misused to
+      serve alien ends. People come from all directions wanting to find in it
+      support and maintenance for themselves; they stand in the way and spoil
+      its effect. To be sure, there is nothing surprising in this, for in a
+      world of need and imperfection everything is seized upon which can be used
+      to satisfy want. Nothing is exempt from this service, no, not even those
+      very things which arise only when need and want are for a moment lost
+      sight of&mdash;the beautiful and the true, sought for their own sakes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is especially illustrated and corroborated in the case of
+      institutions&mdash;whether great or small, wealthy or poor, founded, no
+      matter in what century or in what land, to maintain and advance human
+      knowledge, and generally to afford help to those intellectual efforts
+      which ennoble the race. Wherever these institutions may be, it is not long
+      before people sneak up to them under the pretence of wishing to further
+      those special ends, while they are really led on by the desire to secure
+      the emoluments which have been left for their furtherance, and thus to
+      satisfy certain coarse and brutal instincts of their own. Thus it is that
+      we come to have so many charlatans in every branch of knowledge. The
+      charlatan takes very different shapes according to circumstances; but at
+      bottom he is a man who cares nothing about knowledge for its own sake, and
+      only strives to gain the semblance of it that he may use it for his own
+      personal ends, which are always selfish and material.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of the
+      weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he crushes both
+      them and himself. Or he is like Gulliver at Lilliput, overwhelmed by an
+      enormous number of little men.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      A mother gave her children Aesop's fables to read, in the hope of
+      educating and improving their minds; but they very soon brought the book
+      back, and the eldest, wise beyond his years, delivered himself as follows:
+      <i>This is no book for us; it's much too childish and stupid. You can't
+      make us believe that foxes and wolves and ravens are able to talk; we've
+      got beyond stories of that kind</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In these young hopefuls you have the enlightened Rationalists of the
+      future.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in
+      winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills, they
+      were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together again, when
+      just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of huddling and
+      dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off by remaining at a
+      little distance from one another. In the same way the need of society
+      drives the human porcupines together, only to be mutually repelled by the
+      many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature. The moderate
+      distance which they at last discover to be the only tolerable condition of
+      intercourse, is the code of politeness and fine manners; and those who
+      transgress it are roughly told&mdash;in the English phrase&mdash;<i>to
+      keep their distance</i>. By this arrangement the mutual need of warmth is
+      only very moderately satisfied; but then people do not get pricked. A man
+      who has some heat in himself prefers to remain outside, where he will
+      neither prick other people nor get pricked himself.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+  <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10732 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #10732 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10732)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in
+Pessimism, by Arthur Schopenhauer, Translated by T. Bailey Saunders
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism
+
+Author: Arthur Schopenhauer
+
+Release Date: January 17, 2004  [eBook #10732]
+Last Updated: September 25, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER;
+STUDIES IN PESSIMISM***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER: STUDIES IN PESSIMISM
+
+TRANSLATED BY
+
+T. BAILEY SAUNDERS, M.A.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD
+  ON THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE
+  ON SUICIDE
+  IMMORTALITY: A DIALOGUE
+  PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
+  ON EDUCATION
+  OF WOMEN
+  ON NOISE
+  A FEW PARABLES
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+The Essays here presented form a further selection from Schopenhauer's
+_Parerga_, brought together under a title which is not to be found
+in the original, and does not claim to apply to every chapter in
+the volume. The first essay is, in the main, a rendering of the
+philosopher's remarks under the heading of _Nachträge zur Lehre vom
+Leiden der Welt_, together with certain parts of another section
+entitled _Nachträge zur Lehre von der Bejahung und Verneinung des
+Willens zum Leben_. Such omissions as I have made are directed chiefly
+by the desire to avoid repeating arguments already familiar to readers
+of the other volumes in this series. The _Dialogue on Immortality_
+sums up views expressed at length in the philosopher's chief work, and
+treated again in the _Parerga_. The _Psychological Observations_ in
+this and the previous volume practically exhaust the chapter of the
+original which bears this title.
+
+The essay on _Women_ must not be taken in jest. It expresses
+Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer
+of the faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question
+which is just now receiving a good deal of attention among us.
+
+T.B.S.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD.
+
+
+Unless _suffering_ is the direct and immediate object of life, our
+existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon
+the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and
+originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as
+serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate
+misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional;
+but misfortune in general is the rule.
+
+I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of
+philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is
+just what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is
+particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to
+strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism.[1]
+It is the good which is negative; in other words, happiness and
+satisfaction always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain
+brought to an end.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_, cf. _Thèod_, §153.--Leibnitz argued
+that evil is a negative quality--_i.e_., the absence of good; and that
+its active and seemingly positive character is an incidental and not
+an essential part of its nature. Cold, he said, is only the absence of
+the power of heat, and the active power of expansion in freezing water
+is an incidental and not an essential part of the nature of cold. The
+fact is, that the power of expansion in freezing water is really an
+increase of repulsion amongst its molecules; and Schopenhauer is quite
+right in calling the whole argument a sophism.]
+
+This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not
+nearly so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
+
+The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or,
+at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader
+wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare
+the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in
+eating the other.
+
+The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will
+be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than
+yourself; and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But
+what an awful fate this means for mankind as a whole!
+
+We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of
+the butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey.
+So it is that in our good days we are all unconscious of the evil Fate
+may have presently in store for us--sickness, poverty, mutilation,
+loss of sight or reason.
+
+No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is
+continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always
+coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time
+stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of
+boredom.
+
+But misfortune has its uses; for, as our bodily frame would burst
+asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere was removed, so, if the
+lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if
+everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen
+with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present
+the spectacle of unbridled folly--nay, they would go mad. And I may
+say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is
+necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is
+unstable and will not go straight.
+
+Certain it is that _work, worry, labor_ and _trouble_, form the lot of
+almost all men their whole life long. But if all wishes were fulfilled
+as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what would
+they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and
+ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained
+his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of
+boredom or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and
+murders; so that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on
+itself than it has now to accept at the hands of Nature.
+
+In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like
+children in a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there
+in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a
+blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we
+foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent
+prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all
+unconscious of what their sentence means. Nevertheless, every man
+desires to reach old age; in other words, a state of life of which it
+may be said: "It is bad to-day, and it will be worse to-morrow; and so
+on till the worst of all."
+
+If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery,
+pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course,
+you will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little
+as on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life;
+and if, here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.
+
+Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing
+the blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even though
+things have gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the more
+clearly you will feel that, on the whole, life is _a disappointment,
+nay, a cheat_.
+
+If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are
+old, after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling
+they will have at the sight of each other will be one of complete
+disappointment at life as a whole; because their thoughts will be
+carried back to that earlier time when life seemed so fair as it
+lay spread out before them in the rosy light of dawn, promised so
+much--and then performed so little. This feeling will so completely
+predominate over every other that they will not even consider it
+necessary to give it words; but on either side it will be silently
+assumed, and form the ground-work of all they have to talk about.
+
+He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits
+some time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the
+performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to
+be seen only once; and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to
+deceive, their effect is gone.
+
+While no man is much to be envied for his lot, there are countless
+numbers whose fate is to be deplored.
+
+Life is a task to be done. It is a fine thing to say _defunctus est_;
+it means that the man has done his task.
+
+If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason
+alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather
+have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the
+burden of existence? or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose
+that burden upon it in cold blood.
+
+I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless--because
+I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the
+Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers
+in peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to
+the lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham
+philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please,
+and you will get it. Your University professors are bound to preach
+optimism; and it is an easy and agreeable task to upset their
+theories.
+
+I have reminded the reader that every state of welfare, every feeling
+of satisfaction, is negative in its character; that is to say, it
+consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of
+existence. It follows, therefore, that the happiness of any given life
+is to be measured, not by its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to
+which it has been free from suffering--from positive evil. If this
+is the true standpoint, the lower animals appear to enjoy a happier
+destiny than man. Let us examine the matter a little more closely.
+
+However varied the forms that human happiness and misery may take,
+leading a man to seek the one and shun the other, the material basis
+of it all is bodily pleasure or bodily pain. This basis is very
+restricted: it is simply health, food, protection from wet and cold,
+the satisfaction of the sexual instinct; or else the absence of these
+things. Consequently, as far as real physical pleasure is concerned,
+the man is not better off than the brute, except in so far as the
+higher possibilities of his nervous system make him more sensitive to
+every kind of pleasure, but also, it must be remembered, to every kind
+of pain. But then compared with the brute, how much stronger are the
+passions aroused in him! what an immeasurable difference there is in
+the depth and vehemence of his emotions!--and yet, in the one case,
+as in the other, all to produce the same result in the end: namely,
+health, food, clothing, and so on.
+
+The chief source of all this passion is that thought for what is
+absent and future, which, with man, exercises such a powerful
+influence upon all he does. It is this that is the real origin of
+his cares, his hopes, his fears--emotions which affect him much
+more deeply than could ever be the case with those present joys
+and sufferings to which the brute is confined. In his powers of
+reflection, memory and foresight, man possesses, as it were, a machine
+for condensing and storing up his pleasures and his sorrows. But the
+brute has nothing of the kind; whenever it is in pain, it is as though
+it were suffering for the first time, even though the same thing
+should have previously happened to it times out of number. It has
+no power of summing up its feelings. Hence its careless and placid
+temper: how much it is to be envied! But in man reflection comes in,
+with all the emotions to which it gives rise; and taking up the same
+elements of pleasure and pain which are common to him and the brute,
+it develops his susceptibility to happiness and misery to such a
+degree that, at one moment the man is brought in an instant to a state
+of delight that may even prove fatal, at another to the depths of
+despair and suicide.
+
+If we carry our analysis a step farther, we shall find that, in order
+to increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number
+and pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much
+more difficult to satisfy than those of the brute. Hence luxury in all
+its forms; delicate food, the use of tobacco and opium, spirituous
+liquors, fine clothes, and the thousand and one things than he
+considers necessary to his existence.
+
+And above and beyond all this, there is a separate and peculiar source
+of pleasure, and consequently of pain, which man has established for
+himself, also as the result of using his powers of reflection; and
+this occupies him out of all proportion to its value, nay, almost more
+than all his other interests put together--I mean ambition and the
+feeling of honor and shame; in plain words, what he thinks about the
+opinion other people have of him. Taking a thousand forms, often very
+strange ones, this becomes the goal of almost all the efforts he makes
+that are not rooted in physical pleasure or pain. It is true that
+besides the sources of pleasure which he has in common with the
+brute, man has the pleasures of the mind as well. These admit of many
+gradations, from the most innocent trifling or the merest talk up to
+the highest intellectual achievements; but there is the accompanying
+boredom to be set against them on the side of suffering. Boredom is
+a form of suffering unknown to brutes, at any rate in their natural
+state; it is only the very cleverest of them who show faint traces
+of it when they are domesticated; whereas in the case of man it has
+become a downright scourge. The crowd of miserable wretches whose one
+aim in life is to fill their purses but never to put anything into
+their heads, offers a singular instance of this torment of boredom.
+Their wealth becomes a punishment by delivering them up to misery of
+having nothing to do; for, to escape it, they will rush about in all
+directions, traveling here, there and everywhere. No sooner do they
+arrive in a place than they are anxious to know what amusements it
+affords; just as though they were beggars asking where they could
+receive a dole! Of a truth, need and boredom are the two poles
+of human life. Finally, I may mention that as regards the sexual
+relation, a man is committed to a peculiar arrangement which drives
+him obstinately to choose one person. This feeling grows, now and
+then, into a more or less passionate love,[1] which is the source of
+little pleasure and much suffering.
+
+[Footnote 1: I have treated this subject at length in a special
+chapter of the second volume of my chief work.]
+
+It is, however, a wonderful thing that the mere addition of thought
+should serve to raise such a vast and lofty structure of human
+happiness and misery; resting, too, on the same narrow basis of joy
+and sorrow as man holds in common with the brute, and exposing him
+to such violent emotions, to so many storms of passion, so much
+convulsion of feeling, that what he has suffered stands written and
+may be read in the lines on his face. And yet, when all is told, he
+has been struggling ultimately for the very same things as the brute
+has attained, and with an incomparably smaller expenditure of passion
+and pain.
+
+But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in
+human life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of
+life are made much worse for man by the fact that death is something
+very real to him. The brute flies from death instinctively without
+really knowing what it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it
+in the way natural to a man, who has this prospect always before his
+eyes. So that even if only a few brutes die a natural death, and most
+of them live only just long enough to transmit their species, and
+then, if not earlier, become the prey of some other animal,--whilst
+man, on the other hand, manages to make so-called natural death the
+rule, to which, however, there are a good many exceptions,--the
+advantage is on the side of the brute, for the reason stated above.
+But the fact is that man attains the natural term of years just as
+seldom as the brute; because the unnatural way in which he lives, and
+the strain of work and emotion, lead to a degeneration of the race;
+and so his goal is not often reached.
+
+The brute is much more content with mere existence than man; the plant
+is wholly so; and man finds satisfaction in it just in proportion as
+he is dull and obtuse. Accordingly, the life of the brute carries less
+of sorrow with it, but also less of joy, when compared with the life
+of man; and while this may be traced, on the one side, to freedom from
+the torment of _care_ and _anxiety_, it is also due to the fact
+that _hope_, in any real sense, is unknown to the brute. It is thus
+deprived of any share in that which gives us the most and best of our
+joys and pleasures, the mental anticipation of a happy future, and the
+inspiriting play of phantasy, both of which we owe to our power of
+imagination. If the brute is free from care, it is also, in this
+sense, without hope; in either case, because its consciousness is
+limited to the present moment, to what it can actually see before
+it. The brute is an embodiment of present impulses, and hence what
+elements of fear and hope exist in its nature--and they do not go very
+far--arise only in relation to objects that lie before it and within
+reach of those impulses: whereas a man's range of vision embraces the
+whole of his life, and extends far into the past and future.
+
+Following upon this, there is one respect in which brutes show real
+wisdom when compared with us--I mean, their quiet, placid enjoyment of
+the present moment. The tranquillity of mind which this seems to give
+them often puts us to shame for the many times we allow our thoughts
+and our cares to make us restless and discontented. And, in fact,
+those pleasures of hope and anticipation which I have been mentioning
+are not to be had for nothing. The delight which a man has in hoping
+for and looking forward to some special satisfaction is a part of the
+real pleasure attaching to it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards
+deducted; for the more we look forward to anything, the less
+satisfaction we find in it when it comes. But the brute's enjoyment
+is not anticipated, and therefore, suffers no deduction; so that the
+actual pleasure of the moment comes to it whole and unimpaired. In the
+same way, too, evil presses upon the brute only with its own intrinsic
+weight; whereas with us the fear of its coming often makes its burden
+ten times more grievous.
+
+It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up
+entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight
+we take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified,
+and in some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that
+is free from trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and
+preoccupations, mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless
+creature, misuses this quality of the brute to be more content than we
+are with mere existence, and often works it to such an extent that he
+allows the brute absolutely nothing more than mere, bare life. The
+bird which was made so that it might rove over half of the world, he
+shuts up into the space of a cubic foot, there to die a slow death in
+longing and crying for freedom; for in a cage it does not sing for
+the pleasure of it. And when I see how man misuses the dog, his best
+friend; how he ties up this intelligent animal with a chain, I feel
+the deepest sympathy with the brute and burning indignation against
+its master.
+
+We shall see later that by taking a very high standpoint it is
+possible to justify the sufferings of mankind. But this justification
+cannot apply to animals, whose sufferings, while in a great measure
+brought about by men, are often considerable even apart from their
+agency.[1] And so we are forced to ask, Why and for what purpose does
+all this torment and agony exist? There is nothing here to give the
+will pause; it is not free to deny itself and so obtain redemption.
+There is only one consideration that may serve to explain the
+sufferings of animals. It is this: that the will to live, which
+underlies the whole world of phenomena, must, in their case satisfy
+its cravings by feeding upon itself. This it does by forming a
+gradation of phenomena, every one of which exists at the expense of
+another. I have shown, however, that the capacity for suffering is
+less in animals than in man. Any further explanation that may be given
+of their fate will be in the nature of hypothesis, if not actually
+mythical in its character; and I may leave the reader to speculate
+upon the matter for himself.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. _Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol. ii. p. 404.]
+
+_Brahma_ is said to have produced the world by a kind of fall or
+mistake; and in order to atone for his folly, he is bound to remain
+in it himself until he works out his redemption. As an account of the
+origin of things, that is admirable! According to the doctrines
+of _Buddhism_, the world came into being as the result of some
+inexplicable disturbance in the heavenly calm of Nirvana, that blessed
+state obtained by expiation, which had endured so long a time--the
+change taking place by a kind of fatality. This explanation must be
+understood as having at bottom some moral bearing; although it is
+illustrated by an exactly parallel theory in the domain of physical
+science, which places the origin of the sun in a primitive streak of
+mist, formed one knows not how. Subsequently, by a series of moral
+errors, the world became gradually worse and worse--true of the
+physical orders as well--until it assumed the dismal aspect it wears
+to-day. Excellent! The _Greeks_ looked upon the world and the gods as
+the work of an inscrutable necessity. A passable explanation: we may
+be content with it until we can get a better. Again, _Ormuzd_ and
+_Ahriman_ are rival powers, continually at war. That is not bad. But
+that a God like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and
+woe, out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should
+then have clapped his hands in praise of his own work, and declared
+everything to be very good--that will not do at all! In its
+explanation of the origin of the world, Judaism is inferior to any
+other form of religious doctrine professed by a civilized nation;
+and it is quite in keeping with this that it is the only one which
+presents no trace whatever of any belief in the immortality of the
+soul.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Parerga_, vol. i. pp. 139 _et seq_.]
+
+Even though Leibnitz' contention, that this is the best of all
+possible worlds, were correct, that would not justify God in having
+created it. For he is the Creator not of the world only, but of
+possibility itself; and, therefore, he ought to have so ordered
+possibility as that it would admit of something better.
+
+There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this
+world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and, at the
+same time, all-powerful Being; firstly, the misery which abounds in
+it everywhere; and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest
+product, man, who is a burlesque of what he should be. These things
+cannot be reconciled with any such belief. On the contrary, they are
+just the facts which support what I have been saying; they are our
+authority for viewing the world as the outcome of our own misdeeds,
+and therefore, as something that had better not have been. Whilst,
+under the former hypothesis, they amount to a bitter accusation
+against the Creator, and supply material for sarcasm; under the latter
+they form an indictment against our own nature, our own will, and
+teach us a lesson of humility. They lead us to see that, like the
+children of a libertine, we come into the world with the burden of sin
+upon us; and that it is only through having continually to atone for
+this sin that our existence is so miserable, and that its end is
+death.
+
+There is nothing more certain than the general truth that it is the
+grievous _sin of the world_ which has produced the grievous _suffering
+of the world_. I am not referring here to the physical connection
+between these two things lying in the realm of experience; my meaning
+is metaphysical. Accordingly, the sole thing that reconciles me to the
+Old Testament is the story of the Fall. In my eyes, it is the only
+metaphysical truth in that book, even though it appears in the form of
+an allegory. There seems to me no better explanation of our existence
+than that it is the result of some false step, some sin of which
+we are paying the penalty. I cannot refrain from recommending the
+thoughtful reader a popular, but at the same time, profound treatise
+on this subject by Claudius[1] which exhibits the essentially
+pessimistic spirit of Christianity. It is entitled: _Cursed is the
+ground for thy sake_.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--Matthias Claudius (1740-1815), a
+popular poet, and friend of Klopstock, Herder and Leasing. He edited
+the _Wandsbecker Bote_, in the fourth part of which appeared the
+treatise mentioned above. He generally wrote under the pseudonym of
+_Asmus_, and Schopenhauer often refers to him by this name.]
+
+Between the ethics of the Greeks and the ethics of the Hindoos, there
+is a glaring contrast. In the one case (with the exception, it must be
+confessed, of Plato), the object of ethics is to enable a man to lead
+a happy life; in the other, it is to free and redeem him from life
+altogether--as is directly stated in the very first words of the
+_Sankhya Karika_.
+
+Allied with this is the contrast between the Greek and the Christian
+idea of death. It is strikingly presented in a visible form on a fine
+antique sarcophagus in the gallery of Florence, which exhibits, in
+relief, the whole series of ceremonies attending a wedding in ancient
+times, from the formal offer to the evening when Hymen's torch lights
+the happy couple home. Compare with that the Christian coffin,
+draped in mournful black and surmounted with a crucifix! How much
+significance there is in these two ways of finding comfort in death.
+They are opposed to each other, but each is right. The one points to
+the _affirmation_ of the will to live, which remains sure of life for
+all time, however rapidly its forms may change. The other, in the
+symbol of suffering and death, points to the _denial_ of the will to
+live, to redemption from this world, the domain of death and devil.
+And in the question between the affirmation and the denial of the will
+to live, Christianity is in the last resort right.
+
+The contrast which the New Testament presents when compared with the
+Old, according to the ecclesiastical view of the matter, is just that
+existing between my ethical system and the moral philosophy of Europe.
+The Old Testament represents man as under the dominion of Law, in
+which, however, there is no redemption. The New Testament declares
+Law to have failed, frees man from its dominion,[1] and in its stead
+preaches the kingdom of grace, to be won by faith, love of neighbor
+and entire sacrifice of self. This is the path of redemption from the
+evil of the world. The spirit of the New Testament is undoubtedly
+asceticism, however your protestants and rationalists may twist it to
+suit their purpose. Asceticism is the denial of the will to live; and
+the transition from the Old Testament to the New, from the dominion
+of Law to that of Faith, from justification by works to redemption
+through the Mediator, from the domain of sin and death to eternal life
+in Christ, means, when taken in its real sense, the transition from
+the merely moral virtues to the denial of the will to live. My
+philosophy shows the metaphysical foundation of justice and the love
+of mankind, and points to the goal to which these virtues necessarily
+lead, if they are practised in perfection. At the same time it is
+candid in confessing that a man must turn his back upon the world, and
+that the denial of the will to live is the way of redemption. It is
+therefore really at one with the spirit of the New Testament, whilst
+all other systems are couched in the spirit of the Old; that is
+to say, theoretically as well as practically, their result is
+Judaism--mere despotic theism. In this sense, then, my doctrine might
+be called the only true Christian philosophy--however paradoxical a
+statement this may seem to people who take superficial views instead
+of penetrating to the heart of the matter.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. Romans vii; Galatians ii, iii.]
+
+If you want a safe compass to guide you through life, and to banish
+all doubt as to the right way of looking at it, you cannot do better
+than accustom yourself to regard this world as a penitentiary, a
+sort of a penal colony, or [Greek: ergastaerion] as the earliest
+philosopher called it.[1] Amongst the Christian Fathers, Origen, with
+praiseworthy courage, took this view,[2] which is further justified by
+certain objective theories of life. I refer, not to my own philosophy
+alone, but to the wisdom of all ages, as expressed in Brahmanism and
+Buddhism, and in the sayings of Greek philosophers like Empedocles and
+Pythagoras; as also by Cicero, in his remark that the wise men of old
+used to teach that we come into this world to pay the penalty of crime
+committed in another state of existence--a doctrine which formed
+part of the initiation into the mysteries.[3] And Vanini--whom his
+contemporaries burned, finding that an easier task than to confute
+him--puts the same thing in a very forcible way. _Man_, he says, _is
+so full of every kind of misery that, were it not repugnant to the
+Christian religion, I should venture to affirm that if evil spirits
+exist at all, they have posed into human form and are now atoning for
+their crimes_.[4] And true Christianity--using the word in its right
+sense--also regards our existence as the consequence of sin and error.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. L. iii, c, 3, p. 399.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Augustine _de cìvitate Dei_., L. xi. c. 23.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Cf. _Fragmenta de philosophia_.]
+
+[Footnote: 4: _De admirandis naturae arcanis_; dial L. p. 35.]
+
+If you accustom yourself to this view of life you will regulate your
+expectations accordingly, and cease to look upon all its disagreeable
+incidents, great and small, its sufferings, its worries, its misery,
+as anything unusual or irregular; nay, you will find that everything
+is as it should be, in a world where each of us pays the penalty of
+existence in his own peculiar way. Amongst the evils of a penal colony
+is the society of those who form it; and if the reader is worthy of
+better company, he will need no words from me to remind him of what he
+has to put up with at present. If he has a soul above the common, or
+if he is a man of genius, he will occasionally feel like some noble
+prisoner of state, condemned to work in the galleys with common
+criminals; and he will follow his example and try to isolate himself.
+
+In general, however, it should be said that this view of life will
+enable us to contemplate the so-called imperfections of the great
+majority of men, their moral and intellectual deficiencies and the
+resulting base type of countenance, without any surprise, to say
+nothing of indignation; for we shall never cease to reflect where we
+are, and that the men about us are beings conceived and born in
+sin, and living to atone for it. That is what Christianity means in
+speaking of the sinful nature of man.
+
+_Pardon's the word to all_! [1] Whatever folly men commit, be
+their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us exercise
+forbearance; remembering that when these faults appear in others, it
+is our follies and vices that we behold. They are the shortcomings of
+humanity, to which we belong; whose faults, one and all, we share;
+yes, even those very faults at which we now wax so indignant, merely
+because they have not yet appeared in ourselves. They are faults that
+do not lie on the surface. But they exist down there in the depths of
+our nature; and should anything call them forth, they will come and
+show themselves, just as we now see them in others. One man, it
+is true, may have faults that are absent in his fellow; and it is
+undeniable that the sum total of bad qualities is in some cases very
+large; for the difference of individuality between man and man passes
+all measure.
+
+[Footnote 1: "Cymbeline," Act v. Sc. 5.]
+
+In fact, the conviction that the world and man is something that had
+better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards
+one another. Nay, from this point of view, we might well consider the
+proper form of address to be, not _Monsieur, Sir, mein Herr_, but _my
+fellow-sufferer, Socî malorum, compagnon de miseres_! This may perhaps
+sound strange, but it is in keeping with the facts; it puts others in
+a right light; and it reminds us of that which is after all the most
+necessary thing in life--the tolerance, patience, regard, and love
+of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore,
+every man owes to his fellow.
+
+
+
+
+THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE.
+
+
+This vanity finds expression in the whole way in which things exist;
+in the infinite nature of Time and Space, as opposed to the finite
+nature of the individual in both; in the ever-passing present moment
+as the only mode of actual existence; in the interdependence and
+relativity of all things; in continual Becoming without ever Being; in
+constant wishing and never being satisfied; in the long battle
+which forms the history of life, where every effort is checked by
+difficulties, and stopped until they are overcome. Time is that in
+which all things pass away; it is merely the form under which the will
+to live--the thing-in-itself and therefore imperishable--has revealed
+to it that its efforts are in vain; it is that agent by which at every
+moment all things in our hands become as nothing, and lose any real
+value they possess.
+
+That which _has been_ exists no more; it exists as little as that
+which has _never_ been. But of everything that exists you must say, in
+the next moment, that it has been. Hence something of great importance
+now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in
+that the latter is a _reality_, and related to the former as something
+to nothing.
+
+A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing,
+after thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for
+a little while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he
+must exist no more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that
+it cannot be true. The crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a
+subject without having a presentiment that Time is something ideal in
+its nature. This ideality of Time and Space is the key to every true
+system of metaphysics; because it provides for quite another order of
+things than is to be met with in the domain of nature. This is why
+Kant is so great.
+
+Of every event in our life we can say only for one moment that it
+_is_; for ever after, that it _was_. Every evening we are poorer by a
+day. It might, perhaps, make us mad to see how rapidly our short span
+of time ebbs away; if it were not that in the furthest depths of our
+being we are secretly conscious of our share in the exhaustible spring
+of eternity, so that we can always hope to find life in it again.
+
+Consideration of the kind, touched on above, might, indeed, lead us to
+embrace the belief that the greatest _wisdom_ is to make the enjoyment
+of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only
+reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand,
+such a course might just as well be called the greatest _folly_: for
+that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly,
+like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.
+
+The whole foundation on which our existence rests is the present--the
+ever-fleeting present. It lies, then, in the very nature of our
+existence to take the form of constant motion, and to offer no
+possibility of our ever attaining the rest for which we are always
+striving. We are like a man running downhill, who cannot keep on his
+legs unless he runs on, and will inevitably fall if he stops; or,
+again, like a pole balanced on the tip of one's finger; or like a
+planet, which would fall into its sun the moment it ceased to hurry
+forward on its way. Unrest is the mark of existence.
+
+In a world where all is unstable, and nought can endure, but is swept
+onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change; where a man, if
+he is to keep erect at all, must always be advancing and moving, like
+an acrobat on a rope--in such a world, happiness in inconceivable.
+How can it dwell where, as Plato says, _continual Becoming and never
+Being_ is the sole form of existence? In the first place, a man never
+is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which
+he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he
+does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the
+end, and comes into harbor with masts and rigging gone. And then, it
+is all one whether he has been happy or miserable; for his life was
+never anything more than a present moment always vanishing; and now it
+is over.
+
+At the same time it is a wonderful thing that, in the world of human
+beings as in that of animals in general, this manifold restless motion
+is produced and kept up by the agency of two simple impulses--hunger
+and the sexual instinct; aided a little, perhaps, by the influence of
+boredom, but by nothing else; and that, in the theatre of life, these
+suffice to form the _primum mobile_ of how complicated a machinery,
+setting in motion how strange and varied a scene!
+
+On looking a little closer, we find that inorganic matter presents
+a constant conflict between chemical forces, which eventually works
+dissolution; and on the other hand, that organic life is impossible
+without continual change of matter, and cannot exist if it does not
+receive perpetual help from without. This is the realm of _finality_;
+and its opposite would be _an infinite existence_, exposed to no
+attack from without, and needing nothing to support it; [Greek: haei
+hosautos dn], the realm of eternal peace; [Greek: oute giguomenon oute
+apollumenon], some timeless, changeless state, one and undiversified;
+the negative knowledge of which forms the dominant note of the
+Platonic philosophy. It is to some such state as this that the denial
+of the will to live opens up the way.
+
+The scenes of our life are like pictures done in rough mosaic. Looked
+at close, they produce no effect. There is nothing beautiful to
+be found in them, unless you stand some distance off. So, to gain
+anything we have longed for is only to discover how vain and empty
+it is; and even though we are always living in expectation of better
+things, at the same time we often repent and long to have the past
+back again. We look upon the present as something to be put up with
+while it lasts, and serving only as the way towards our goal. Hence
+most people, if they glance back when they come to the end of life,
+will find that all along they have been living _ad interim_: they will
+be surprised to find that the very thing they disregarded and let
+slip by unenjoyed, was just the life in the expectation of which they
+passed all their time. Of how many a man may it not be said that hope
+made a fool of him until he danced into the arms of death!
+
+Then again, how insatiable a creature is man! Every satisfaction he
+attains lays the seeds of some new desire, so that there is no end to
+the wishes of each individual will. And why is this? The real reason
+is simply that, taken in itself, Will is the lord of all worlds:
+everything belongs to it, and therefore no one single thing can ever
+give it satisfaction, but only the whole, which is endless. For all
+that, it must rouse our sympathy to think how very little the Will,
+this lord of the world, really gets when it takes the form of an
+individual; usually only just enough to keep the body together. This
+is why man is so very miserable.
+
+Life presents itself chiefly as a task--the task, I mean, of
+subsisting at all, _gagner sa vie_. If this is accomplished, life is a
+burden, and then there comes the second task of doing something with
+that which has been won--of warding off boredom, which, like a bird
+of prey, hovers over us, ready to fall wherever it sees a life secure
+from need. The first task is to win something; the second, to banish
+the feeling that it has been won; otherwise it is a burden.
+
+Human life must be some kind of mistake. The truth of this will be
+sufficiently obvious if we only remember that man is a compound of
+needs and necessities hard to satisfy; and that even when they are
+satisfied, all he obtains is a state of painlessness, where nothing
+remains to him but abandonment to boredom. This is direct proof that
+existence has no real value in itself; for what is boredom but the
+feeling of the emptiness of life? If life--the craving for which
+is the very essence of our being--were possessed of any positive
+intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere
+existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing.
+But as it is, we take no delight in existence except when we are
+struggling for something; and then distance and difficulties to be
+overcome make our goal look as though it would satisfy us--an illusion
+which vanishes when we reach it; or else when we are occupied with
+some purely intellectual interest--when in reality we have stepped
+forth from life to look upon it from the outside, much after the
+manner of spectators at a play. And even sensual pleasure itself means
+nothing but a struggle and aspiration, ceasing the moment its aim is
+attained. Whenever we are not occupied in one of these ways, but cast
+upon existence itself, its vain and worthless nature is brought home
+to us; and this is what we mean by boredom. The hankering after what
+is strange and uncommon--an innate and ineradicable tendency of human
+nature--shows how glad we are at any interruption of that natural
+course of affairs which is so very tedious.
+
+That this most perfect manifestation of the will to live, the human
+organism, with the cunning and complex working of its machinery,
+must fall to dust and yield up itself and all its strivings to
+extinction--this is the naïve way in which Nature, who is always so
+true and sincere in what she says, proclaims the whole struggle of
+this will as in its very essence barren and unprofitable. Were it of
+any value in itself, anything unconditioned and absolute, it could not
+thus end in mere nothing.
+
+If we turn from contemplating the world as a whole, and, in
+particular, the generations of men as they live their little hour of
+mock-existence and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn
+from this, and look at life in its small details, as presented, say,
+in a comedy, how ridiculous it all seems! It is like a drop of water
+seen through a microscope, a single drop teeming with _infusoria_; or
+a speck of cheese full of mites invisible to the naked eye. How we
+laugh as they bustle about so eagerly, and struggle with one another
+in so tiny a space! And whether here, or in the little span of human
+life, this terrible activity produces a comic effect.
+
+It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. It is an
+indivisible point, drawn out and magnified by the powerful lenses of
+Time and Space.
+
+
+
+
+ON SUICIDE.
+
+
+As far as I know, none but the votaries of monotheistic, that is to
+say, Jewish religions, look upon suicide as a crime. This is all the
+more striking, inasmuch as neither in the Old nor in the New Testament
+is there to be found any prohibition or positive disapproval of it;
+so that religious teachers are forced to base their condemnation of
+suicide on philosophical grounds of their own invention. These are
+so very bad that writers of this kind endeavor to make up for the
+weakness of their arguments by the strong terms in which they express
+their abhorrence of the practice; in other words, they declaim against
+it. They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice; that
+only a madman could be guilty of it; and other insipidities of the
+same kind; or else they make the nonsensical remark that suicide is
+_wrong_; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world
+to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life
+and person.
+
+Suicide, as I have said, is actually accounted a crime; and a crime
+which, especially under the vulgar bigotry that prevails in England,
+is followed by an ignominious burial and the seizure of the man's
+property; and for that reason, in a case of suicide, the jury almost
+always brings in a verdict of insanity. Now let the reader's own moral
+feelings decide as to whether or not suicide is a criminal act. Think
+of the impression that would be made upon you by the news that some
+one you know had committed the crime, say, of murder or theft, or been
+guilty of some act of cruelty or deception; and compare it with your
+feelings when you hear that he has met a voluntary death. While in the
+one case a lively sense of indignation and extreme resentment will be
+aroused, and you will call loudly for punishment or revenge, in the
+other you will be moved to grief and sympathy; and mingled with your
+thoughts will be admiration for his courage, rather than the moral
+disapproval which follows upon a wicked action. Who has not had
+acquaintances, friends, relations, who of their own free will have
+left this world; and are these to be thought of with horror as
+criminals? Most emphatically, No! I am rather of opinion that the
+clergy should be challenged to explain what right they have to go into
+the pulpit, or take up their pens, and stamp as a crime an action
+which many men whom we hold in affection and honor have committed;
+and to refuse an honorable burial to those who relinquish this
+world voluntarily. They have no Biblical authority to boast of,
+as justifying their condemnation of suicide; nay, not even any
+philosophical arguments that will hold water; and it must be
+understood that it is arguments we want, and that we will not be put
+off with mere phrases or words of abuse. If the criminal law forbids
+suicide, that is not an argument valid in the Church; and besides, the
+prohibition is ridiculous; for what penalty can frighten a man who is
+not afraid of death itself? If the law punishes people for trying
+to commit suicide, it is punishing the want of skill that makes the
+attempt a failure.
+
+The ancients, moreover, were very far from regarding the matter in
+that light. Pliny says: _Life is not so desirable a thing as to be
+protracted at any cost. Whoever you are, you are sure to die, even
+though your life has been full of abomination and crime. The chief
+of all remedies for a troubled mind is the feeling that among the
+blessings which Nature gives to man, there is none greater than an
+opportune death; and the best of it is that every one can avail
+himself of it.[1]_ And elsewhere the same writer declares: _Not even
+to God are all things possible; for he could not compass his own
+death, if he willed to die, and yet in all the miseries of our earthly
+life, this is the best of his gifts to man.[2]_ Nay, in Massilia
+and on the isle of Ceos, the man who could give valid reasons
+for relinquishing his life, was handed the cup of hemlock by the
+magistrate; and that, too, in public.[3] And in ancient times, how
+many heroes and wise men died a voluntary death. Aristotle,[4] it is
+true, declared suicide to be an offence against the State, although
+not against the person; but in Stobaeus' exposition of the Peripatetic
+philosophy there is the following remark: _The good man should flee
+life when his misfortunes become too great; the bad man, also, when
+he is too prosperous_. And similarly: _So he will marry and beget
+children and take part in the affairs of the State, and, generally,
+practice virtue and continue to live; and then, again, if need be,
+and at any time necessity compels him, he will depart to his place of
+refuge in the tomb.[5]_ And we find that the Stoics actually praised
+suicide as a noble and heroic action, as hundreds of passages show;
+above all in the works of Seneca, who expresses the strongest approval
+of it. As is well known, the Hindoos look upon suicide as a religious
+act, especially when it takes the form of self-immolation by widows;
+but also when it consists in casting oneself under the wheels of the
+chariot of the god at Juggernaut, or being eaten by crocodiles in the
+Ganges, or being drowned in the holy tanks in the temples, and so on.
+The same thing occurs on the stage--that mirror of life. For example,
+in _L'Orphelin de la Chine_[6] a celebrated Chinese play, almost
+all the noble characters end by suicide; without the slightest hint
+anywhere, or any impression being produced on the spectator, that
+they are committing a crime. And in our own theatre it is much the
+same--Palmira, for instance, in _Mahomet_, or Mortimer in _Maria
+Stuart_, Othello, Countess Terzky.[7] Is Hamlet's monologue the
+meditation of a criminal? He merely declares that if we had any
+certainty of being annihilated by it, death would be infinitely
+preferable to the world as it is. But _there lies the rub_!
+
+[Footnote 1: Hist. Nat. Lib. xxviii., 1.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Loc. cit. Lib. ii. c. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: 3 Valerius Maximus; hist. Lib. ii., c. 6, § 7 et 8.
+Heraclides Ponticus; fragmenta de rebus publicis, ix. Aeliani variae
+historiae, iii., 37. Strabo; Lib. x., c. 5, 6.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Eth. Nichom_., v. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Stobaeus. _Ecl. Eth_.. ii., c. 7, pp. 286, 312]
+
+[Footnote 6: Traduit par St. Julien, 1834.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Translator's Note_.--Palmira: a female slave in Goethe's
+play of _Mahomet_. Mortimer: a would-be lover and rescuer of Mary in
+Schiller's _Maria Stuart_. Countess Terzky: a leading character in
+Schiller's _Wallenstein's Tod_.]
+
+The reasons advanced against suicide by the clergy of monotheistic,
+that is to say, Jewish religions, and by those philosophers who adapt
+themselves thereto, are weak sophisms which can easily be refuted.[1]
+The most thorough-going refutation of them is given by Hume in his
+_Essay on Suicide_. This did not appear until after his death, when
+it was immediately suppressed, owing to the scandalous bigotry and
+outrageous ecclesiastical tyranny that prevailed in England; and hence
+only a very few copies of it were sold under cover of secrecy and at a
+high price. This and another treatise by that great man have come to
+us from Basle, and we may be thankful for the reprint.[2] It is a
+great disgrace to the English nation that a purely philosophical
+treatise, which, proceeding from one of the first thinkers and writers
+in England, aimed at refuting the current arguments against suicide
+by the light of cold reason, should be forced to sneak about in that
+country, as though it were some rascally production, until at last it
+found refuge on the Continent. At the same time it shows what a good
+conscience the Church has in such matters.
+
+[Footnote 1: See my treatise on the _Foundation of Morals_, § 5.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Essays on Suicide_ and the _Immortality of the Soul_, by
+the late David Hume, Basle, 1799, sold by James Decker.]
+
+In my chief work I have explained the only valid reason existing
+against suicide on the score of mortality. It is this: that suicide
+thwarts the attainment of the highest moral aim by the fact that, for
+a real release from this world of misery, it substitutes one that is
+merely apparent. But from a _mistake_ to a _crime_ is a far cry; and
+it is as a crime that the clergy of Christendom wish us to regard
+suicide.
+
+The inmost kernel of Christianity is the truth that suffering--_the
+Cross_--is the real end and object of life. Hence Christianity
+condemns suicide as thwarting this end; whilst the ancient world,
+taking a lower point of view, held it in approval, nay, in honor.[1]
+But if that is to be accounted a valid reason against suicide, it
+involves the recognition of asceticism; that is to say, it is valid
+only from a much higher ethical standpoint than has ever been adopted
+by moral philosophers in Europe. If we abandon that high standpoint,
+there is no tenable reason left, on the score of morality, for
+condemning suicide. The extraordinary energy and zeal with which the
+clergy of monotheistic religions attack suicide is not supported
+either by any passages in the Bible or by any considerations of
+weight; so that it looks as though they must have some secret reason
+for their contention. May it not be this--that the voluntary surrender
+of life is a bad compliment for him who said that _all things were
+very good_? If this is so, it offers another instance of the crass
+optimism of these religions,--denouncing suicide to escape being
+denounced by it.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--Schopenhauer refers to _Die Welt
+als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol. i., § 69, where the reader may find
+the same argument stated at somewhat greater length. According to
+Schopenhauer, moral freedom--the highest ethical aim--is to be
+obtained only by a denial of the will to live. Far from being a
+denial, suicide is an emphatic assertion of this will. For it is in
+fleeing from the pleasures, not from the sufferings of life, that this
+denial consists. When a man destroys his existence as an individual,
+he is not by any means destroying his will to live. On the contrary,
+he would like to live if he could do so with satisfaction to himself;
+if he could assert his will against the power of circumstance; but
+circumstance is too strong for him.]
+
+It will generally be found that, as soon as the terrors of life reach
+the point at which they outweigh the terrors of death, a man will
+put an end to his life. But the terrors of death offer considerable
+resistance; they stand like a sentinel at the gate leading out of this
+world. Perhaps there is no man alive who would not have already put an
+end to his life, if this end had been of a purely negative character,
+a sudden stoppage of existence. There is something positive about
+it; it is the destruction of the body; and a man shrinks from that,
+because his body is the manifestation of the will to live.
+
+However, the struggle with that sentinel is, as a rule, not so hard
+as it may seem from a long way off, mainly in consequence of the
+antagonism between the ills of the body and the ills of the mind. If
+we are in great bodily pain, or the pain lasts a long time, we become
+indifferent to other troubles; all we think about is to get well. In
+the same way great mental suffering makes us insensible to bodily
+pain; we despise it; nay, if it should outweigh the other, it
+distracts our thoughts, and we welcome it as a pause in mental
+suffering. It is this feeling that makes suicide easy; for the bodily
+pain that accompanies it loses all significance in the eyes of one
+who is tortured by an excess of mental suffering. This is especially
+evident in the case of those who are driven to suicide by some purely
+morbid and exaggerated ill-humor. No special effort to overcome their
+feelings is necessary, nor do such people require to be worked up in
+order to take the step; but as soon as the keeper into whose charge
+they are given leaves them for a couple of minutes, they quickly bring
+their life to an end.
+
+When, in some dreadful and ghastly dream, we reach the moment of
+greatest horror, it awakes us; thereby banishing all the hideous
+shapes that were born of the night. And life is a dream: when the
+moment of greatest horror compels us to break it off, the same thing
+happens.
+
+Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment--a question which man
+puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is
+this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his
+insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make;
+for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts
+the question and awaits the answer.
+
+
+
+
+IMMORTALITY:[1] A DIALOGUE.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The word
+immortality--_Unsterblichkeit_--does not occur in the original; nor
+would it, in its usual application, find a place in Schopenhauer's
+vocabulary. The word he uses is _Unzerstörbarkeit--indestructibility_.
+But I have preferred _immortality_, because that word is commonly
+associated with the subject touched upon in this little debate. If any
+critic doubts the wisdom of this preference, let me ask him to try
+his hand at a short, concise, and, at the same time, popularly
+intelligible rendering of the German original, which runs thus: _Zur
+Lehre von der Unzerstörbarkeit unseres wahren Wesens durch den Tod:
+Meine dialogische Schlussbelustigung_.]
+
+
+THRASYMACHOS--PHILALETHES.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Tell me now, in one word, what shall I be after my
+death? And mind you be clear and precise.
+
+_Philalethes_. All and nothing!
+
+_Thrasymachos_. I thought so! I gave you a problem, and you solve it
+by a contradiction. That's a very stale trick.
+
+_Philalethes_. Yes, but you raise transcendental questions, and you
+expect me to answer them in language that is only made for immanent
+knowledge. It's no wonder that a contradiction ensues.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. What do you mean by transcendental questions and
+immanent knowledge? I've heard these expressions before, of course;
+they are not new to me. The Professor was fond of using them, but only
+as predicates of the Deity, and he never talked of anything else;
+which was all quite right and proper. He argued thus: if the Deity was
+in the world itself, he was immanent; if he was somewhere outside it,
+he was transcendent. Nothing could be clearer and more obvious! You
+knew where you were. But this Kantian rigmarole won't do any more:
+it's antiquated and no longer applicable to modern ideas. Why, we've
+had a whole row of eminent men in the metropolis of German learning--
+
+_Philalethes_. (Aside.) German humbug, he means.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. The mighty Schleiermacher, for instance, and that
+gigantic intellect, Hegel; and at this time of day we've abandoned
+that nonsense. I should rather say we're so far beyond it that we
+can't put up with it any more. What's the use of it then? What does it
+all mean?
+
+_Philalethes_. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge which passes
+beyond the bounds of possible experience, and strives to determine the
+nature of things as they are in themselves. Immanent knowledge, on the
+other hand, is knowledge which confines itself entirely with those
+bounds; so that it cannot apply to anything but actual phenomena. As
+far as you are an individual, death will be the end of you. But your
+individuality is not your true and inmost being: it is only the
+outward manifestation of it. It is not the _thing-in-itself_, but only
+the phenomenon presented in the form of time; and therefore with a
+beginning and an end. But your real being knows neither time, nor
+beginning, nor end, nor yet the limits of any given individual. It is
+everywhere present in every individual; and no individual can
+exist apart from it. So when death comes, on the one hand you are
+annihilated as an individual; on the other, you are and remain
+everything. That is what I meant when I said that after your death
+you would be all and nothing. It is difficult to find a more precise
+answer to your question and at the same time be brief. The answer is
+contradictory, I admit; but it is so simply because your life is in
+time, and the immortal part of you in eternity. You may put the matter
+thus: Your immortal part is something that does not last in time and
+yet is indestructible; but there you have another contradiction! You
+see what happens by trying to bring the transcendental within the
+limits of immanent knowledge. It is in some sort doing violence to the
+latter by misusing it for ends it was never meant to serve.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Look here, I shan't give twopence for your immortality
+unless I'm to remain an individual.
+
+_Philalethes_. Well, perhaps I may be able to satisfy you on this
+point. Suppose I guarantee that after death you shall remain an
+individual, but only on condition that you first spend three months of
+complete unconsciousness.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. I shall have no objection to that.
+
+_Philalethes_. But remember, if people are completely unconscious,
+they take no account of time. So, when you are dead, it's all the same
+to you whether three months pass in the world of consciousness, or ten
+thousand years. In the one case as in the other, it is simply a matter
+of believing what is told you when you awake. So far, then, you can
+afford to be indifferent whether it is three months or ten thousand
+years that pass before you recover your individuality.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Yes, if it comes to that, I suppose you're right.
+
+_Philalethes_. And if by chance, after those ten thousand years have
+gone by, no one ever thinks of awakening you, I fancy it would be
+no great misfortune. You would have become quite accustomed to
+non-existence after so long a spell of it--following upon such a very
+few years of life. At any rate you may be sure you would be perfectly
+ignorant of the whole thing. Further, if you knew that the mysterious
+power which keeps you in your present state of life had never once
+ceased in those ten thousand years to bring forth other phenomena like
+yourself, and to endow them with life, it would fully console you.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Indeed! So you think you're quietly going to do me
+out of my individuality with all this fine talk. But I'm up to your
+tricks. I tell you I won't exist unless I can have my individuality.
+I'm not going to be put off with 'mysterious powers,' and what you
+call 'phenomena.' I can't do without my individuality, and I won't
+give it up.
+
+_Philalethes_. You mean, I suppose, that your individuality is such a
+delightful thing, so splendid, so perfect, and beyond compare--that
+you can't imagine anything better. Aren't you ready to exchange your
+present state for one which, if we can judge by what is told us, may
+possibly be superior and more endurable?
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Don't you see that my individuality, be it what it
+may, is my very self? To me it is the most important thing in the
+world.
+
+  _For God is God and I am I_.
+
+_I_ want to exist, _I, I_. That's the main thing. I don't care about
+an existence which has to be proved to be mine, before I can believe
+it.
+
+_Philalethes_. Think what you're doing! When you say _I, I, I_ want
+to exist, it is not you alone that says this. Everything says it,
+absolutely everything that has the faintest trace of consciousness. It
+follows, then, that this desire of yours is just the part of you that
+is _not individual_--the part that is common to all things without
+distinction. It is the cry, not of the individual, but of existence
+itself; it is the intrinsic element in everything that exists, nay, it
+is the cause of anything existing at all. This desire craves for, and
+so is satisfied with, nothing less than existence in general--not any
+definite individual existence. No! that is not its aim. It seems to be
+so only because this desire--this _Will_--attains consciousness only
+in the individual, and therefore looks as though it were concerned
+with nothing but the individual. There lies the illusion--an illusion,
+it is true, in which the individual is held fast: but, if he reflects,
+he can break the fetters and set himself free. It is only indirectly,
+I say, that the individual has this violent craving for existence. It
+is _the Will to Live_ which is the real and direct aspirant--alike and
+identical in all things. Since, then, existence is the free work, nay,
+the mere reflection of the will, where existence is, there, too,
+must be will; and for the moment the will finds its satisfaction in
+existence itself; so far, I mean, as that which never rests, but
+presses forward eternally, can ever find any satisfaction at all.
+The will is careless of the individual: the individual is not its
+business; although, as I have said, this seems to be the case, because
+the individual has no direct consciousness of will except in himself.
+The effect of this is to make the individual careful to maintain his
+own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety
+for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that
+individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather of limitation;
+and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain. Trouble yourself no
+more about the matter. Once thoroughly recognize what you are, what
+your existence really is, namely, the universal will to live, and the
+whole question will seem to you childish, and most ridiculous!
+
+_Thrasymachos_. You're childish yourself and most ridiculous, like
+all philosophers! and if a man of my age lets himself in for a
+quarter-of-an-hour's talk with such fools, it is only because it
+amuses me and passes the time. I've more important business to attend
+to, so Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+FURTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
+
+
+There is an unconscious propriety in the way in which, in all European
+languages, the word _person_ is commonly used to denote a human
+being. The real meaning of _persona_ is _a mask_, such as actors were
+accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no
+one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part.
+Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a
+perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds
+society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing us the
+consequence and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell
+us what the future will be? This is precisely why reason is such an
+excellent power of restraint in moments when we are possessed by some
+base passion, some fit of anger, some covetous desire, that will lead
+us to do things whereof we must presently repent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Hatred_ comes from the heart; _contempt_ from the head; and neither
+feeling is quite within our control. For we cannot alter our heart;
+its basis is determined by motives; and our head deals with objective
+facts, and applies to them rules which are immutable. Any given
+individual is the union of a particular heart with a particular head.
+
+Hatred and contempt are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.
+There are even not a few cases where hatred of a person is rooted in
+nothing but forced esteem for his qualities. And besides, if a man
+sets out to hate all the miserable creatures he meets, he will not
+have much energy left for anything else; whereas he can despise them,
+one and all, with the greatest ease. True, genuine contempt is just
+the reverse of true, genuine pride; it keeps quite quiet and gives no
+sign of its existence. For if a man shows that he despises you, he
+signifies at least this much regard for you, that he wants to let
+you know how little he appreciates you; and his wish is dictated by
+hatred, which cannot exist with real contempt. On the contrary, if it
+is genuine, it is simply the conviction that the object of it is a man
+of no value at all. Contempt is not incompatible with indulgent and
+kindly treatment, and for the sake of one's own peace and safety, this
+should not be omitted; it will prevent irritation; and there is no
+one who cannot do harm if he is roused to it. But if this pure, cold,
+sincere contempt ever shows itself, it will be met with the most
+truculent hatred; for the despised person is not in a position to
+fight contempt with its own weapons.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Melancholy is a very different thing from bad humor, and of the two,
+it is not nearly so far removed from a gay and happy temperament.
+Melancholy attracts, while bad humor repels.
+
+Hypochondria is a species of torment which not only makes us
+unreasonably cross with the things of the present; not only fills us
+with groundless anxiety on the score of future misfortunes entirely
+of our own manufacture; but also leads to unmerited self-reproach for
+what we have done in the past.
+
+Hypochondria shows itself in a perpetual hunting after things that vex
+and annoy, and then brooding over them. The cause of it is an inward
+morbid discontent, often co-existing with a naturally restless
+temperament. In their extreme form, this discontent and this unrest
+lead to suicide.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Any incident, however trivial, that rouses disagreeable emotion,
+leaves an after-effect in our mind, which for the time it lasts,
+prevents our taking a clear objective view of the things about us, and
+tinges all our thoughts: just as a small object held close to the eye
+limits and distorts our field of vision.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What makes people _hard-hearted_ is this, that each man has, or
+fancies he has, as much as he can bear in his own troubles. Hence, if
+a man suddenly finds himself in an unusually happy position, it will
+in most cases result in his being sympathetic and kind. But if he has
+never been in any other than a happy position, or this becomes his
+permanent state, the effect of it is often just the contrary: it so
+far removes him from suffering that he is incapable of feeling any
+more sympathy with it. So it is that the poor often show themselves
+more ready to help than the rich.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At times it seems as though we both wanted and did not want the same
+thing, and felt at once glad and sorry about it. For instance, if
+on some fixed date we are going to be put to a decisive test about
+anything in which it would be a great advantage to us to come off
+victorious, we shall be anxious for it to take place at once, and at
+the same time we shall tremble at the thought of its approach. And if,
+in the meantime, we hear that, for once in a way, the date has been
+postponed, we shall experience a feeling both of pleasure and of
+annoyance; for the news is disappointing, but nevertheless it affords
+us momentary relief. It is just the same thing if we are expecting
+some important letter carrying a definite decision, and it fails to
+arrive.
+
+In such cases there are really two different motives at work in us;
+the stronger but more distant of the two being the desire to stand
+the test and to have the decision given in our favor; and the weaker,
+which touches us more nearly, the wish to be left for the present in
+peace and quiet, and accordingly in further enjoyment of the advantage
+which at any rate attaches to a state of hopeful uncertainty, compared
+with the possibility that the issue may be unfavorable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In my head there is a permanent opposition-party; and whenever I take
+any step or come to any decision--though I may have given the matter
+mature consideration--it afterwards attacks what I have done, without,
+however, being each time necessarily in the right. This is, I suppose,
+only a form of rectification on the part of the spirit of scrutiny;
+but it often reproaches me when I do not deserve it. The same thing,
+no doubt, happens to many others as well; for where is the man who
+can help thinking that, after all, it were better not to have done
+something that he did with great deliberation:
+
+  _Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te
+  Conatus non poeniteat votique peracti_?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why is it that _common_ is an expression of contempt? and that
+_uncommon, extraordinary, distinguished_, denote approbation? Why is
+everything that is common contemptible?
+
+_Common_ in its original meaning denotes that which is peculiar to all
+men, _i.e_., shared equally by the whole species, and therefore an
+inherent part of its nature. Accordingly, if an individual possesses
+no qualities beyond those which attach to mankind in general, he is
+a _common man. Ordinary_ is a much milder word, and refers rather
+to intellectual character; whereas _common_ has more of a moral
+application.
+
+What value can a creature have that is not a whit different from
+millions of its kind? Millions, do I say? nay, an infiniture of
+creatures which, century after century, in never-ending flow, Nature
+sends bubbling up from her inexhaustible springs; as generous with
+them as the smith with the useless sparks that fly around his anvil.
+
+It is obviously quite right that a creature which has no qualities
+except those of the species, should have to confine its claim to an
+existence entirely within the limits of the species, and live a life
+conditioned by those limits.
+
+In various passages of my works,[1] I have argued that whilst a lower
+animal possesses nothing more than the generic character of its
+species, man is the only being which can lay claim to possess an
+individual character. But in most men this individual character comes
+to very little in reality; and they may be almost all ranged under
+certain classes: _ce sont des espèces_. Their thoughts and desires,
+like their faces, are those of the species, or, at any rate, those
+of the class to which they belong; and accordingly, they are of a
+trivial, every-day, common character, and exist by the thousand. You
+can usually tell beforehand what they are likely to do and say. They
+have no special stamp or mark to distinguish them; they are like
+manufactured goods, all of a piece.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 48; _Welt als Wille und
+Vorstellung_, vol. i. p. 338.]
+
+If, then, their nature is merged in that of the species, how shall
+their existence go beyond it? The curse of vulgarity puts men on a par
+with the lower animals, by allowing them none but a generic nature, a
+generic form of existence. Anything that is high or great or noble,
+must then, as a mater of course, and by its very nature, stand alone
+in a world where no better expression can be found to denote what is
+base and contemptible than that which I have mentioned as in general
+use, namely, _common_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will, as the _thing-in-itself_, is the foundation of all being; it
+is part and parcel of every creature, and the permanent element in
+everything. Will, then, is that which we possess in common with all
+men, nay, with all animals, and even with lower forms of existence;
+and in so far we are akin to everything--so far, that is, as
+everything is filled to overflowing with will. On the other hand, that
+which places one being over another, and sets differences between man
+and man, is intellect and knowledge; therefore in every manifestation
+of self we should, as far as possible, give play to the intellect
+alone; for, as we have seen, the will is the _common_ part of us.
+Every violent exhibition of will is common and vulgar; in other words,
+it reduces us to the level of the species, and makes us a mere type
+and example of it; in that it is just the character of the
+species that we are showing. So every fit of anger is something
+_common_--every unrestrained display of joy, or of hate, or fear--in
+short, every form of emotion; in other words, every movement of the
+will, if it's so strong as decidedly to outweigh the intellectual
+element in consciousness, and to make the man appear as a being that
+_wills_ rather than _knows_.
+
+In giving way to emotion of this violent kind, the greatest genius
+puts himself on a level with the commonest son of earth. Contrarily,
+if a man desires to be absolutely uncommon, in other words, great, he
+should never allow his consciousness to be taken possession of
+and dominated by the movement of his will, however much he may be
+solicited thereto. For example, he must be able to observe that other
+people are badly disposed towards him, without feeling any hatred
+towards them himself; nay, there is no surer sign of a great mind than
+that it refuses to notice annoying and insulting expressions, but
+straightway ascribes them, as it ascribes countless other mistakes, to
+the defective knowledge of the speaker, and so merely observes without
+feeling them. This is the meaning of that remark of Gracian, that
+nothing is more unworthy of a man than to let it be seen that he is
+one--_el mayor desdoro de un hombre es dar muestras de que es hombre_.
+
+And even in the drama, which is the peculiar province of the passions
+and emotions, it is easy for them to appear common and vulgar. And
+this is specially observable in the works of the French tragic
+writers, who set no other aim before themselves but the delineation
+of the passions; and by indulging at one moment in a vaporous kind
+of pathos which makes them ridiculous, at another in epigrammatic
+witticisms, endeavor to conceal the vulgarity of their subject. I
+remember seeing the celebrated Mademoiselle Rachel as Maria Stuart:
+and when she burst out in fury against Elizabeth--though she did it
+very well--I could not help thinking of a washerwoman. She played
+the final parting in such a way as to deprive it of all true tragic
+feeling, of which, indeed, the French have no notion at all. The same
+part was incomparably better played by the Italian Ristori; and, in
+fact, the Italian nature, though in many respects very different from
+the German, shares its appreciation for what is deep, serious, and
+true in Art; herein opposed to the French, which everywhere betrays
+that it possesses none of this feeling whatever.
+
+The noble, in other words, the uncommon, element in the drama--nay,
+what is sublime in it--is not reached until the intellect is set to
+work, as opposed to the will; until it takes a free flight over all
+those passionate movements of the will, and makes them subject of its
+contemplation. Shakespeare, in particular, shows that this is his
+general method, more especially in Hamlet. And only when intellect
+rises to the point where the vanity of all effort is manifest, and the
+will proceeds to an act of self-annulment, is the drama tragic in the
+true sense of the word; it is then that it reaches its highest aim in
+becoming really sublime.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits
+of the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that
+error of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and
+earth meet. This explains many things, and among them the fact that
+everyone measures us with his own standard--generally about as long as
+a tailor's tape, and we have to put up with it: as also that no one
+will allow us to be taller than himself--a supposition which is once
+for all taken for granted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is no doubt that many a man owes his good fortune in life solely
+to the circumstance that he has a pleasant way of smiling, and so wins
+the heart in his favor.
+
+However, the heart would do better to be careful, and to remember what
+Hamlet put down in his tablets--_that one may smile, and smile, and be
+a villain_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Everything that is really fundamental in a man, and therefore genuine
+works, as such, unconsciously; in this respect like the power of
+nature. That which has passed through the domain of consciousness is
+thereby transformed into an idea or picture; and so if it comes to be
+uttered, it is only an idea or picture which passes from one person to
+another.
+
+Accordingly, any quality of mind or character that is genuine and
+lasting, is originally unconscious; and it is only when unconsciously
+brought into play that it makes a profound impression. If any like
+quality is consciously exercised, it means that it has been worked up;
+it becomes intentional, and therefore matter of affectation, in other
+words, of deception.
+
+If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if
+he tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails. This applies to the
+origin of those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of
+all genuine work. Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold
+water; and every man who wants to achieve something, whether in
+practical life, in literature, or in art, must _follow the rules
+without knowing them_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men of very great capacity, will as a rule, find the company of very
+stupid people preferable to that of the common run; for the same
+reason that the tyrant and the mob, the grandfather and the
+grandchildren, are natural allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That line of Ovid's,
+
+  _Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram_,
+
+can be applied in its true physical sense to the lower animals alone;
+but in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly
+all men as well. All their plans and projects are merged in the desire
+of physical enjoyment, physical well-being. They may, indeed, have
+personal interests, often embracing a very varied sphere; but still
+these latter receive their importance entirely from the relation in
+which they stand to the former. This is not only proved by their
+manner of life and the things they say, but it even shows itself in
+the way they look, the expression of their physiognomy, their gait and
+gesticulations. Everything about them cries out; _in terram prona_!
+
+It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
+natures--men who really think and look about them in the world, and
+form exceptional specimens of humanity--that the next lines are
+applicable;
+
+  _Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
+  Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in
+himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in
+a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of
+the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and
+yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain.
+When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent
+warmth contained in it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one
+really knows what he looks like?
+
+A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
+then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, _Know
+thyself_.
+
+This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is
+physically impossible for a man to see himself in the glass except
+with face turned straight towards it and perfectly motionless; where
+the expression of the eye, which counts for so much, and really gives
+its whole character to the face, is to a great extent lost. But
+co-existing with this physical impossibility, there seems to me to be
+an ethical impossibility of an analogous nature, and producing the
+same effect. A man cannot look upon his own reflection as though the
+person presented there were _a stranger_ to him; and yet this is
+necessary if he is to take _an objective view_. In the last resort,
+an objective view means a deep-rooted feeling on the part of the
+individual, as a moral being, that that which he is contemplating is
+_not himself_[1]; and unless he can take this point of view, he will
+not see things in a really true light, which is possible only if he is
+alive to their actual defects, exactly as they are. Instead of that,
+when a man sees himself in the glass, something out of his own
+egotistic nature whispers to him to take care to remember that _it is
+no stranger, but himself, that he is looking at_; and this operates as
+a _noli me tang ere_, and prevents him taking an objective view. It
+seems, indeed, as if, without the leaven of a grain of malice, such a
+view were impossible.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 275.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+According as a man's mental energy is exerted or relaxed, will life
+appear to him either so short, and petty, and fleeting, that nothing
+can possibly happen over which it is worth his while to spend emotion;
+that nothing really matters, whether it is pleasure or riches, or even
+fame, and that in whatever way a man may have failed, he cannot
+have lost much--or, on the other hand, life will seem so long, so
+important, so all in all, so momentous and so full of difficulty that
+we have to plunge into it with our whole soul if we are to obtain a
+share of its goods, make sure of its prizes, and carry out our plans.
+This latter is the immanent and common view of life; it is what
+Gracian means when he speaks of the serious way of looking
+at things--_tomar muy de veras el vivir_. The former is the
+transcendental view, which is well expressed in Ovid's _non est
+tanti_--it is not worth so much trouble; still better, however, by
+Plato's remark that nothing in human affairs is worth any great
+anxiety--[Greek: oute ti ton anthropinon axion esti megalaes
+spoudaes.] This condition of mind is due to the intellect having got
+the upper hand in the domain of consciousness, where, freed from
+the mere service of the will, it looks upon the phenomena of life
+objectively, and so cannot fail to gain a clear insight into its
+vain and futile character. But in the other condition of mind, will
+predominates; and the intellect exists only to light it on its way to
+the attainment of its desires.
+
+A man is great or small according as he leans to the one or the other
+of these views of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+People of very brilliant ability think little of admitting their
+errors and weaknesses, or of letting others see them. They look upon
+them as something for which they have duly paid; and instead of
+fancying that these weaknesses are a disgrace to them, they consider
+they are doing them an honor. This is especially the case when
+the errors are of the kind that hang together with their
+qualities--_conditiones sine quibus non_--or, as George Sand said,
+_les défauts de ses vertus_.
+
+Contrarily, there are people of good character and irreproachable
+intellectual capacity, who, far from admitting the few little
+weaknesses they have, conceal them with care, and show themselves very
+sensitive to any suggestion of their existence; and this, just because
+their whole merit consists in being free from error and infirmity. If
+these people are found to have done anything wrong, their reputation
+immediately suffers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With people of only moderate ability, modesty is mere honesty; but
+with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy. Hence, it is
+just as becoming in the latter to make no secret of the respect they
+bear themselves and no disguise of the fact that they are conscious of
+unusual power, as it is in the former to be modest. Valerius
+Maximus gives some very neat examples of this in his chapter on
+self-confidence, _de fiducia sui_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not to go to the theatre is like making one's toilet without a mirror.
+But it is still worse to take a decision without consulting a friend.
+For a man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters,
+and yet go wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will
+comes in and deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take
+counsel of a friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he
+falls ill, he sends for a colleague.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In all that we do, we wish, more or less, to come to the end; we are
+impatient to finish and glad to be done. But the last scene of all,
+the general end, is something that, as a rule, we wish as far off as
+may be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again
+a foretaste of the resurrection. This is why even people who were
+indifferent to each other, rejoice so much if they come together again
+after twenty or thirty years' separation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Intellects differ from one another in a very real and fundamental way:
+but no comparison can well be made by merely general observations. It
+is necessary to come close, and to go into details; for the difference
+that exists cannot be seen from afar; and it is not easy to judge by
+outward appearances, as in the several cases of education, leisure and
+occupation. But even judging by these alone, it must be admitted that
+many a man has _a degree of existence_ at least ten times as high as
+another--in other words, exists ten times as much.
+
+I am not speaking here of savages whose life is often only one degree
+above that of the apes in their woods. Consider, for instance, a
+porter in Naples or Venice (in the north of Europe solicitude for the
+winter months makes people more thoughtful and therefore reflective);
+look at the life he leads, from its beginning to its end:--driven by
+poverty; living on his physical strength; meeting the needs of every
+day, nay, of every hour, by hard work, great effort, constant tumult,
+want in all its forms, no care for the morrow; his only comfort
+rest after exhaustion; continuous quarreling; not a moment free for
+reflection; such sensual delights as a mild climate and only just
+sufficient food will permit of; and then, finally, as the metaphysical
+element, the crass superstition of his church; the whole forming a
+manner of life with only a low degree of consciousness, where a man
+hustles, or rather is hustled, through his existence. This restless
+and confused dream forms the life of how many millions!
+
+Such men _think_ only just so much as is necessary to carry out their
+will for the moment. They never reflect upon their life as a connected
+whole, let alone, then, upon existence in general; to a certain extent
+they may be said to exist without really knowing it. The existence of
+the mobsman or the slave who lives on in this unthinking way, stands
+very much nearer than ours to that of the brute, which is confined
+entirely to the present moment; but, for that very reason, it has also
+less of pain in it than ours. Nay, since all pleasure is in its nature
+negative, that is to say, consists in freedom from some form of misery
+or need, the constant and rapid interchange between setting about
+something and getting it done, which is the permanent accompaniment of
+the work they do, and then again the augmented form which this
+takes when they go from work to rest and the satisfaction of their
+needs--all this gives them a constant source of enjoyment; and the
+fact that it is much commoner to see happy faces amongst the poor than
+amongst the rich, is a sure proof that it is used to good advantage.
+
+Passing from this kind of man, consider, next, the sober, sensible
+merchant, who leads a life of speculation, thinks long over his plans
+and carries them out with great care, founds a house, and provides for
+his wife, his children and descendants; takes his share, too, in the
+life of a community. It is obvious that a man like this has a much
+higher degree of consciousness than the former, and so his existence
+has a higher degree of reality.
+
+Then look at the man of learning, who investigates, it may be, the
+history of the past. He will have reached the point at which a man
+becomes conscious of existence as a whole, sees beyond the period of
+his own life, beyond his own personal interests, thinking over the
+whole course of the world's history.
+
+Then, finally, look at the poet or the philosopher, in whom reflection
+has reached such a height, that, instead of being drawn on to
+investigate any one particular phenomenon of existence, he stands in
+amazement _before existence itself_, this great sphinx, and makes it
+his problem. In him consciousness has reached the degree of clearness
+at which it embraces the world itself: his intellect has completely
+abandoned its function as the servant of his will, and now holds the
+world before him; and the world calls upon him much more to examine
+and consider it, than to play a part in it himself. If, then, the
+degree of consciousness is the degree of reality, such a man will be
+said to exist most of all, and there will be sense and significance in
+so describing him.
+
+Between the two extremes here sketched, and the intervening stages,
+everyone will be able to find the place at which he himself stands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We know that man is in general superior to all other animals, and this
+is also the case in his capacity for being trained. Mohammedans are
+trained to pray with their faces turned towards Mecca, five times a
+day; and they never fail to do it. Christians are trained to cross
+themselves on certain occasions, to bow, and so on. Indeed, it may
+be said that religion is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of the art of training,
+because it trains people in the way they shall think: and, as is well
+known, you cannot begin the process too early. There is no absurdity
+so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if
+you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly
+repeating it with an air of great solemnity. For as in the case of
+animals, so in that of men, training is successful only when you begin
+in early youth.
+
+Noblemen and gentlemen are trained to hold nothing sacred but their
+word of honor--to maintain a zealous, rigid, and unshaken belief in
+the ridiculous code of chivalry; and if they are called upon to do so,
+to seal their belief by dying for it, and seriously to regard a king
+as a being of a higher order.
+
+Again, our expressions of politeness, the compliments we make, in
+particular, the respectful attentions we pay to ladies, are a matter
+of training; as also our esteem for good birth, rank, titles, and so
+on. Of the same character is the resentment we feel at any insult
+directed against us; and the measure of this resentment may be exactly
+determined by the nature of the insult. An Englishman, for instance,
+thinks it a deadly insult to be told that he is no gentleman, or,
+still worse, that he is a liar; a Frenchman has the same feeling if
+you call him a coward, and a German if you say he is stupid.
+
+There are many persons who are trained to be strictly honorable in
+regard to one particular matter, while they have little honor to boast
+of in anything else. Many a man, for instance, will not steal your
+money; but he will lay hands on everything of yours that he can enjoy
+without having to pay for it. A man of business will often deceive you
+without the slightest scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit
+a theft.
+
+Imagination is strong in a man when that particular function of the
+brain which enables him to observe is roused to activity without
+any necessary excitement of the senses. Accordingly, we find that
+imagination is active just in proportion as our senses are not excited
+by external objects. A long period of solitude, whether in prison or
+in a sick room; quiet, twilight, darkness--these are the things that
+promote its activity; and under their influence it comes into play of
+itself. On the other hand, when a great deal of material is presented
+to our faculties of observation, as happens on a journey, or in
+the hurly-burly of the world, or, again, in broad daylight, the
+imagination is idle, and, even though call may be made upon it,
+refuses to become active, as though it understood that that was not
+its proper time.
+
+However, if the imagination is to yield any real product, it must have
+received a great deal of material from the external world. This is
+the only way in which its storehouse can be filled. The phantasy is
+nourished much in the same way as the body, which is least capable
+of any work and enjoys doing nothing just in the very moment when it
+receives its food which it has to digest. And yet it is to this very
+food that it owes the power which it afterwards puts forth at the
+right time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past
+the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the
+other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true
+point at which it can remain at rest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By a process of contradiction, distance in space makes things look
+small, and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks
+so much better in a contracting mirror or in a _camera obscura_, than
+it is in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The
+scenes and events of long ago, and the persons who took part in them,
+wear a charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the
+outlines and takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys
+no such advantage, and so it always seems defective.
+
+And again, as regards space, small objects close to us look big, and
+if they are very close, we may be able to see nothing else, but when
+we go a little way off, they become minute and invisible. It is the
+same again as regards time. The little incidents and accidents of
+every day fill us with emotion, anxiety, annoyance, passion, as long
+as they are close to us, when they appear so big, so important, so
+serious; but as soon as they are borne down the restless stream of
+time, they lose what significance they had; we think no more of them
+and soon forget them altogether. They were big only because they were
+near.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Joy_ and _sorrow_ are not ideas of the mind, but affections of the
+will, and so they do not lie in the domain of memory. We cannot recall
+our joys and sorrows; by which I mean that we cannot renew them. We
+can recall only the _ideas_ that accompanied them; and, in particular,
+the things we were led to say; and these form a gauge of our feelings
+at the time. Hence our memory of joys and sorrows is always imperfect,
+and they become a matter of indifference to us as soon as they are
+over. This explains the vanity of the attempt, which we sometimes
+make, to revive the pleasures and the pains of the past. Pleasure and
+pain are essentially an affair of the will; and the will, as such, is
+not possessed of memory, which is a function of the intellect; and
+this in its turn gives out and takes in nothing but thoughts and
+ideas, which are not here in question.
+
+It is a curious fact that in bad days we can very vividly recall the
+good time that is now no more; but that in good days, we have only a
+very cold and imperfect memory of the bad.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We have a much better memory of actual objects or pictures than
+for mere ideas. Hence a good imagination makes it easier to learn
+languages; for by its aid, the new word is at once united with the
+actual object to which it refers; whereas, if there is no imagination,
+it is simply put on a parallel with the equivalent word in the mother
+tongue.
+
+Mnemonics should not only mean the art of keeping something indirectly
+in the memory by the use of some direct pun or witticism; it should,
+rather, be applied to a systematic theory of memory, and explain its
+several attributes by reference both to its real nature, and to the
+relation in which these attributes stand to one another.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are moments in life when our senses obtain a higher and rarer
+degree of clearness, apart from any particular occasion for it in the
+nature of our surroundings; and explicable, rather, on physiological
+grounds alone, as the result of some enhanced state of susceptibility,
+working from within outwards. Such moments remain indelibly impressed
+upon the memory, and preserve themselves in their individuality
+entire. We can assign no reason for it, nor explain why this among so
+many thousand moments like it should be specially remembered. It seems
+as much a matter of chance as when single specimens of a whole race of
+animals now extinct are discovered in the layers of a rock; or when,
+on opening a book, we light upon an insect accidentally crushed within
+the leaves. Memories of this kind are always sweet and pleasant.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It occasionally happens that, for no particular reason, long-forgotten
+scenes suddenly start up in the memory. This may in many cases be due
+to the action of some hardly perceptible odor, which accompanied those
+scenes and now recurs exactly same as before. For it is well known
+that the sense of smell is specially effective in awakening memories,
+and that in general it does not require much to rouse a train of
+ideas. And I may say, in passing, that the sense of sight is connected
+with the understanding,[1] the sense of hearing with the reason,[2]
+and, as we see in the present case, the sense of smell with the
+memory. Touch and Taste are more material and dependent upon contact.
+They have no ideal side.
+
+[Footnote 1:_Wierfache Wurzel_ § 21.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Parerga_ vol. ii, § 311.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It must also be reckoned among the peculiar attributes of memory
+that a slight state of intoxication often so greatly enhances the
+recollection of past times and scenes, that all the circumstances
+connected with them come back much more clearly than would be possible
+in a state of sobriety; but that, on the other hand, the recollection
+of what one said or did while the intoxication lasted, is more than
+usually imperfect; nay, that if one has been absolutely tipsy, it is
+gone altogether. We may say, then, that whilst intoxication enhances
+the memory for what is past, it allows it to remember little of the
+present.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive
+within. Contrarily, if they are active within, they do not care to be
+dragged out of themselves; it disturbs and impedes their thoughts in a
+way that is often most ruinous to them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am not surprised that some people are bored when they find
+themselves alone; for they cannot laugh if they are quite by
+themselves. The very idea of it seems folly to them.
+
+Are we, then, to look upon laughter as merely O signal for others--a
+mere sign, like a word? What makes it impossible for people to laugh
+when they are alone is nothing but want of imagination, dullness of
+mind generally--[Greek: anaisthaesia kai bradutaes psuchaes], as
+Theophrastus has it.[1] The lower animals never laugh, either alone
+or in company. Myson, the misanthropist, was once surprised by one of
+these people as he was laughing to himself. _Why do you laugh_? he
+asked; _there is no one with you. That is just why I am laughing_,
+said Myson.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Characters_, c. 27.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Natural _gesticulation_, such as commonly accompanies any lively talk,
+is a language of its own, more widespread, even, than the language of
+words--so far, I mean, as it is independent of words and alike in all
+nations. It is true that nations make use of it in proportion as they
+are vivacious, and that in particular cases, amongst the Italians, for
+instance, it is supplemented by certain peculiar gestures which are
+merely conventional, and therefore possessed of nothing more than a
+local value.
+
+In the universal use made of it, gesticulation has some analogy with
+logic and grammar, in that it has to do with the form, rather
+than with the matter of conversation; but on the other hand it is
+distinguishable from them by the fact that it has more of a moral than
+of an intellectual bearing; in other words, it reflects the movements
+of the will. As an accompaniment of conversation it is like the bass
+of a melody; and if, as in music, it keeps true to the progress of the
+treble, it serves to heighten the effect.
+
+In a conversation, the gesture depends upon the form in which the
+subject-matter is conveyed; and it is interesting to observe that,
+whatever that subject-matter may be, with a recurrence of the form,
+the very same gesture is repeated. So if I happen to see--from my
+window, say--two persons carrying on a lively conversation, without
+my being able to catch a word, I can, nevertheless, understand the
+general nature of it perfectly well; I mean, the kind of thing that is
+being said and the form it takes. There is no mistake about it. The
+speaker is arguing about something, advancing his reasons, then
+limiting their application, then driving them home and drawing the
+conclusion in triumph; or he is recounting his experiences, proving,
+perhaps, beyond the shadow of a doubt, how much he has been injured,
+but bringing the clearest and most damning evidence to show that
+his opponents were foolish and obstinate people who would not be
+convinced; or else he is telling of the splendid plan he laid, and how
+he carried it to a successful issue, or perhaps failed because
+the luck was against him; or, it may be, he is saying that he was
+completely at a loss to know what to do, or that he was quick in
+seeing some traps set for him, and that by insisting on his rights or
+by applying a little force, he succeeded in frustrating and punishing
+his enemies; and so on in hundreds of cases of a similar kind.
+
+Strictly speaking, however, what I get from gesticulation alone is
+an abstract notion of the essential drift of what is being said, and
+that, too, whether I judge from a moral or an intellectual point of
+view. It is the quintessence, the true substance of the conversation,
+and this remains identical, no matter what may have given rise to the
+conversation, or what it may be about; the relation between the two
+being that of a general idea or class-name to the individuals which it
+covers.
+
+As I have said, the most interesting and amusing part of the matter is
+the complete identity and solidarity of the gestures used to denote
+the same set of circumstances, even though by people of very different
+temperament; so that the gestures become exactly like words of
+a language, alike for every one, and subject only to such small
+modifications as depend upon variety of accent and education. And yet
+there can be no doubt but that these standing gestures, which every
+one uses, are the result of no convention or collusion. They are
+original and innate--a true language of nature; consolidated, it may
+be, by imitation and the influence of custom.
+
+It is well known that it is part of an actor's duty to make a careful
+study of gesture; and the same thing is true, to a somewhat smaller
+degree, of a public speaker. This study must consist chiefly in
+watching others and imitating their movements, for there are no
+abstract rules fairly applicable to the matter, with the exception
+of some very general leading principles, such as--to take an
+example--that the gesture must not follow the word, but rather
+come immediately before it, by way of announcing its approach and
+attracting the hearer's attention.
+
+Englishmen entertain a peculiar contempt for gesticulation, and look
+upon it as something vulgar and undignified. This seems to me a silly
+prejudice on their part, and the outcome of their general prudery. For
+here we have a language which nature has given to every one, and which
+every one understands; and to do away with and forbid it for no better
+reason than that it is opposed to that much-lauded thing, gentlemanly
+feeling, is a very questionable proceeding.
+
+
+
+
+ON EDUCATION.
+
+
+The human intellect is said to be so constituted that _general ideas_
+arise by abstraction from _particular observations_, and therefore
+come after them in point of time. If this is what actually occurs, as
+happens in the case of a man who has to depend solely upon his own
+experience for what he learns--who has no teacher and no book,--such
+a man knows quite well which of his particular observations belong to
+and are represented by each of his general ideas. He has a perfect
+acquaintance with both sides of his experience, and accordingly, he
+treats everything that comes in his way from a right standpoint. This
+might be called the _natural_ method of education.
+
+Contrarily, the _artificial_ method is to hear what other people say,
+to learn and to read, and so to get your head crammed full of general
+ideas before you have any sort of extended acquaintance with the world
+as it is, and as you may see it for yourself. You will be told that
+the particular observations which go to make these general ideas will
+come to you later on in the course of experience; but until that time
+arrives, you apply your general ideas wrongly, you judge men and
+things from a wrong standpoint, you see them in a wrong light, and
+treat them in a wrong way. So it is that education perverts the mind.
+
+This explains why it so frequently happens that, after a long course
+of learning and reading, we enter upon the world in our youth, partly
+with an artless ignorance of things, partly with wrong notions about
+them; so that our demeanor savors at one moment of a nervous anxiety,
+at another of a mistaken confidence. The reason of this is simply that
+our head is full of general ideas which we are now trying to turn to
+some use, but which we hardly ever apply rightly. This is the result
+of acting in direct opposition to the natural development of the mind
+by obtaining general ideas first, and particular observations last:
+it is putting the cart before the horse. Instead of developing the
+child's own faculties of discernment, and teaching it to judge and
+think for itself, the teacher uses all his energies to stuff its head
+full of the ready-made thoughts of other people. The mistaken views
+of life, which spring from a false application of general ideas, have
+afterwards to be corrected by long years of experience; and it is
+seldom that they are wholly corrected. This is why so few men of
+learning are possessed of common-sense, such as is often to be met
+with in people who have had no instruction at all.
+
+_To acquire a knowledge of the world_ might be defined as the aim
+of all education; and it follows from what I have said that special
+stress should be laid upon beginning to acquire this knowledge _at
+the right end_. As I have shown, this means, in the main, that the
+particular observation of a thing shall precede the general idea of
+it; further, that narrow and circumscribed ideas shall come before
+ideas of a wide range. It means, therefore, that the whole system of
+education shall follow in the steps that must have been taken by the
+ideas themselves in the course of their formation. But whenever any of
+these steps are skipped or left out, the instruction is defective, and
+the ideas obtained are false; and finally, a distorted view of the
+world arises, peculiar to the individual himself--a view such as
+almost everyone entertains for some time, and most men for as long as
+they live. No one can look into his own mind without seeing that it
+was only after reaching a very mature age, and in some cases when he
+least expected it, that he came to a right understanding or a clear
+view of many matters in his life, that, after all, were not very
+difficult or complicated. Up till then, they were points in his
+knowledge of the world which were still obscure, due to his having
+skipped some particular lesson in those early days of his education,
+whatever it may have been like--whether artificial and conventional,
+or of that natural kind which is based upon individual experience.
+
+It follows that an attempt should be made to find out the strictly
+natural course of knowledge, so that education may proceed
+methodically by keeping to it; and that children may become acquainted
+with the ways of the world, without getting wrong ideas into their
+heads, which very often cannot be got out again. If this plan were
+adopted, special care would have to be taken to prevent children
+from using words without clearly understanding their meaning and
+application. The fatal tendency to be satisfied with words instead of
+trying to understand things--to learn phrases by heart, so that
+they may prove a refuge in time of need, exists, as a rule, even in
+children; and the tendency lasts on into manhood, making the knowledge
+of many learned persons to consist in mere verbiage.
+
+However, the main endeavor must always be to let particular
+observations precede general ideas, and not _vice versa_, as is
+usually and unfortunately the case; as though a child should come
+feet foremost into the world, or a verse be begun by writing down the
+rhyme! The ordinary method is to imprint ideas and opinions, in the
+strict sense of the word, _prejudices_, on the mind of the child,
+before it has had any but a very few particular observations. It is
+thus that he afterwards comes to view the world and gather experience
+through the medium of those ready-made ideas, rather than to let his
+ideas be formed for him out of his own experience of life, as they
+ought to be.
+
+A man sees a great many things when he looks at the world for himself,
+and he sees them from many sides; but this method of learning is not
+nearly so short or so quick as the method which employs abstract
+ideas and makes hasty generalizations about everything. Experience,
+therefore, will be a long time in correcting preconceived ideas, or
+perhaps never bring its task to an end; for wherever a man finds that
+the aspect of things seems to contradict the general ideas he has
+formed, he will begin by rejecting the evidence it offers as partial
+and one-sided; nay, he will shut his eyes to it altogether and deny
+that it stands in any contradiction at all with his preconceived
+notions, in order that he may thus preserve them uninjured. So it is
+that many a man carries about a burden of wrong notions all his life
+long--crotchets, whims, fancies, prejudices, which at last become
+fixed ideas. The fact is that he has never tried to form his
+fundamental ideas for himself out of his own experience of life, his
+own way of looking at the world, because he has taken over his ideas
+ready-made from other people; and this it is that makes him--as it
+makes how many others!--so shallow and superficial.
+
+Instead of that method of instruction, care should be taken to educate
+children on the natural lines. No idea should ever be established in a
+child's mind otherwise than by what the child can see for itself, or
+at any rate it should be verified by the same means; and the result of
+this would be that the child's ideas, if few, would be well-grounded
+and accurate. It would learn how to measure things by its own standard
+rather than by another's; and so it would escape a thousand strange
+fancies and prejudices, and not need to have them eradicated by the
+lessons it will subsequently be taught in the school of life. The
+child would, in this way, have its mind once for all habituated
+to clear views and thorough-going knowledge; it would use its own
+judgment and take an unbiased estimate of things.
+
+And, in general, children should not form their notions of what life
+is like from the copy before they have learned it from the original,
+to whatever aspect of it their attention may be directed. Instead,
+therefore, of hastening to place _books_, and books alone, in their
+hands, let them be made acquainted, step by step, with _things_--with
+the actual circumstances of human life. And above all let care be
+taken to bring them to a clear and objective view of the world as it
+is, to educate them always to derive their ideas directly from real
+life, and to shape them in conformity with it--not to fetch them from
+other sources, such as books, fairy tales, or what people say--then
+to apply them ready-made to real life. For this will mean that their
+heads are full of wrong notions, and that they will either see things
+in a false light or try in vain to _remodel the world_ to suit their
+views, and so enter upon false paths; and that, too, whether they are
+only constructing theories of life or engaged in the actual business
+of it. It is incredible how much harm is done when the seeds of wrong
+notions are laid in the mind in those early years, later on to bear a
+crop of prejudice; for the subsequent lessons, which are learned from
+real life in the world have to be devoted mainly to their extirpation.
+_To unlearn the evil_ was the answer, according to Diogenes
+Laertius,[1] Antisthenes gave, when he was asked what branch of
+knowledge was most necessary; and we can see what he meant.
+
+[Footnote 1: vi. 7.]
+
+No child under the age of fifteen should receive instruction in
+subjects which may possibly be the vehicle of serious error, such as
+philosophy, religion, or any other branch of knowledge where it is
+necessary to take large views; because wrong notions imbibed early can
+seldom be rooted out, and of all the intellectual faculties, judgment
+is the last to arrive at maturity. The child should give its attention
+either to subjects where no error is possible at all, such as
+mathematics, or to those in which there is no particular danger in
+making a mistake, such as languages, natural science, history and so
+on. And in general, the branches of knowledge which are to be studied
+at any period of life should be such as the mind is equal to at that
+period and can perfectly understand. Childhood and youth form the time
+for collecting materials, for getting a special and thorough knowledge
+of the individual and particular things. In those years it is too
+early to form views on a large scale; and ultimate explanations must
+be put off to a later date. The faculty of judgment, which cannot come
+into play without mature experience, should be left to itself; and
+care should be taken not to anticipate its action by inculcating
+prejudice, which will paralyze it for ever.
+
+On the other hand, the memory should be specially taxed in youth,
+since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in
+choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost care
+and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are
+never forgotten. This precious soil must therefore be cultivated so as
+to bear as much fruit as possible. If you think how deeply rooted in
+your memory are those persons whom you knew in the first twelve years
+of your life, how indelible the impression made upon you by the events
+of those years, how clear your recollection of most of the things that
+happened to you then, most of what was told or taught you, it will
+seem a natural thing to take the susceptibility and tenacity of the
+mind at that period as the ground-work of education. This may be done
+by a strict observance of method, and a systematic regulation of the
+impressions which the mind is to receive.
+
+But the years of youth allotted to a man are short, and memory is, in
+general, bound within narrow limits; still more so, the memory of any
+one individual. Since this is the case, it is all-important to fill
+the memory with what is essential and material in any branch of
+knowledge, to the exclusion of everything else. The decision as to
+what is essential and material should rest with the masterminds in
+every department of thought; their choice should be made after the
+most mature deliberation, and the outcome of it fixed and determined.
+Such a choice would have to proceed by sifting the things which it
+is necessary and important for a man to know in general, and then,
+necessary and important for him to know in any particular business
+or calling. Knowledge of the first kind would have to be classified,
+after an encyclopaedic fashion, in graduated courses, adapted to the
+degree of general culture which a man may be expected to have in the
+circumstances in which he is placed; beginning with a course limited
+to the necessary requirements of primary education, and extending
+upwards to the subjects treated of in all the branches of
+philosophical thought. The regulation of the second kind of knowledge
+would be left to those who had shown genuine mastery in the several
+departments into which it is divided; and the whole system would
+provide an elaborate rule or canon for intellectual education, which
+would, of course, have to be revised every ten years. Some such
+arrangement as this would employ the youthful power of the memory to
+best advantage, and supply excellent working material to the faculty
+of judgment, when it made its appearance later on.
+
+A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, it has
+reached the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an
+individual, is capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is
+established between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he
+has actually perceived for himself. This will mean that each of
+his abstract ideas rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of
+observation, which alone endows it with any real value; and also
+that he is able to place every observation he makes under the right
+abstract idea which belongs to it. Maturity is the work of experience
+alone; and therefore it requires time. The knowledge we derive from
+our own observation is usually distinct from that which we acquire
+through the medium of abstract ideas; the one coming to us in the
+natural way, the other by what people tell us, and the course of
+instruction we receive, whether it is good or bad. The result is, that
+in youth there is generally very little agreement or correspondence
+between our abstract ideas, which are merely phrases in the mind, and
+that real knowledge which we have obtained by our own observation. It
+is only later on that a gradual approach takes place between these two
+kinds of knowledge, accompanied by a mutual correction of error; and
+knowledge is not mature until this coalition is accomplished. This
+maturity or perfection of knowledge is something quite independent of
+another kind of perfection, which may be of a high or a low order--the
+perfection, I mean, to which a man may bring his own individual
+faculties; which is measured, not by any correspondence between the
+two kinds of knowledge, but by the degree of intensity which each kind
+attains.
+
+For the practical man the most needful thing is to acquire an accurate
+and profound knowledge of _the ways of the world_. But this, though
+the most needful, is also the most wearisome of all studies, as a man
+may reach a great age without coming to the end of his task; whereas,
+in the domain of the sciences, he masters the more important facts
+when he is still young. In acquiring that knowledge of the world, it
+is while he is a novice, namely, in boyhood and in youth, that the
+first and hardest lessons are put before him; but it often happens
+that even in later years there is still a great deal to be learned.
+
+The study is difficult enough in itself; but the difficulty is doubled
+by _novels_, which represent a state of things in life and the world,
+such as, in fact, does not exist. Youth is credulous, and accepts
+these views of life, which then become part and parcel of the mind; so
+that, instead of a merely negative condition of ignorance, you have
+positive error--a whole tissue of false notions to start with; and at
+a later date these actually spoil the schooling of experience, and put
+a wrong construction on the lessons it teaches. If, before this,
+the youth had no light at all to guide him, he is now misled by a
+will-o'-the-wisp; still more often is this the case with a girl.
+They have both had a false view of things foisted on them by reading
+novels; and expectations have been aroused which can never be
+fulfilled. This generally exercises a baneful influence on their whole
+life. In this respect those whose youth has allowed them no time or
+opportunity for reading novels--those who work with their hands and
+the like--are in a position of decided advantage. There are a few
+novels to which this reproach cannot be addressed--nay, which have an
+effect the contrary of bad. First and foremost, to give an example,
+_Gil Blas_, and the other works of Le Sage (or rather their Spanish
+originals); further, _The Vicar of Wakefield_, and, to some extent Sir
+Walter Scott's novels. _Don Quixote_ may be regarded as a satirical
+exhibition of the error to which I am referring.
+
+
+
+
+OF WOMEN.
+
+
+Schiller's poem in honor of women, _Würde der Frauen_, is the
+result of much careful thought, and it appeals to the reader by its
+antithetic style and its use of contrast; but as an expression of the
+true praise which should be accorded to them, it is, I think, inferior
+to these few words of Jouy's: _Without women, the beginning of our
+life would be helpless; the middle, devoid of pleasure; and the end,
+of consolation_. The same thing is more feelingly expressed by Byron
+in _Sardanapalus_:
+
+                                                 _The very first
+  Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
+  Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
+  Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
+  Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
+  When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
+  Of watching the last hour of him who led them_.
+
+  (Act I Scene 2.)
+
+These two passages indicate the right standpoint for the appreciation
+of women.
+
+You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that
+woman is not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of
+the body. She pays the debt of life not by what she does, but by what
+she suffers; by the pains of child-bearing and care for the child,
+and by submission to her husband, to whom she should be a patient and
+cheering companion. The keenest sorrows and joys are not for her, nor
+is she called upon to display a great deal of strength. The current
+of her life should be more gentle, peaceful and trivial than man's,
+without being essentially happier or unhappier.
+
+Women are directly fitted for acting as the nurses and teachers of
+our early childhood by the fact that they are themselves childish,
+frivolous and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all
+their life long--a kind of intermediate stage between the child and
+the full-grown man, who is man in the strict sense of the word. See
+how a girl will fondle a child for days together, dance with it and
+sing to it; and then think what a man, with the best will in the
+world, could do if he were put in her place.
+
+With young girls Nature seems to have had in view what, in the
+language of the drama, is called _a striking effect_; as for a few
+years she dowers them with a wealth of beauty and is lavish in her
+gift of charm, at the expense of all the rest of their life; so that
+during those years they may capture the fantasy of some man to such a
+degree that he is hurried away into undertaking the honorable care of
+them, in some form or other, as long as they live--a step for which
+there would not appear to be any sufficient warranty if reason only
+directed his thoughts. Accordingly, Nature has equipped woman, as she
+does all her creatures, with the weapons and implements requisite
+for the safeguarding of her existence, and for just as long as it is
+necessary for her to have them. Here, as elsewhere, Nature proceeds
+with her usual economy; for just as the female ant, after fecundation,
+loses her wings, which are then superfluous, nay, actually a danger
+to the business of breeding; so, after giving birth to one or two
+children, a woman generally loses her beauty; probably, indeed, for
+similar reasons.
+
+And so we find that young girls, in their hearts, look upon domestic
+affairs or work of any kind as of secondary importance, if not
+actually as a mere jest. The only business that really claims their
+earnest attention is love, making conquests, and everything connected
+with this--dress, dancing, and so on.
+
+The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is
+in arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning
+powers and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a
+woman at eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only
+reason of a sort--very niggard in its dimensions. That is why women
+remain children their whole life long; never seeing anything but
+what is quite close to them, cleaving to the present moment, taking
+appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first
+importance. For it is by virtue of his reasoning faculty that man does
+not live in the present only, like the brute, but looks about him and
+considers the past and the future; and this is the origin of prudence,
+as well as of that care and anxiety which so many people exhibit. Both
+the advantages and the disadvantages which this involves, are shared
+in by the woman to a smaller extent because of her weaker power
+of reasoning. She may, in fact, be described as intellectually
+short-sighted, because, while she has an intuitive understanding of
+what lies quite close to her, her field of vision is narrow and does
+not reach to what is remote; so that things which are absent, or past,
+or to come, have much less effect upon women than upon men. This is
+the reason why women are more often inclined to be extravagant, and
+sometimes carry their inclination to a length that borders upon
+madness. In their hearts, women think that it is men's business
+to earn money and theirs to spend it--- if possible during their
+husband's life, but, at any rate, after his death. The very fact
+that their husband hands them over his earnings for purposes of
+housekeeping, strengthens them in this belief.
+
+However many disadvantages all this may involve, there is at least
+this to be said in its favor; that the woman lives more in the present
+than the man, and that, if the present is at all tolerable, she enjoys
+it more eagerly. This is the source of that cheerfulness which
+is peculiar to women, fitting her to amuse man in his hours of
+recreation, and, in case of need, to console him when he is borne down
+by the weight of his cares.
+
+It is by no means a bad plan to consult women in matters of
+difficulty, as the Germans used to do in ancient times; for their way
+of looking at things is quite different from ours, chiefly in the
+fact that they like to take the shortest way to their goal, and, in
+general, manage to fix their eyes upon what lies before them; while
+we, as a rule, see far beyond it, just because it is in front of our
+noses. In cases like this, we need to be brought back to the right
+standpoint, so as to recover the near and simple view.
+
+Then, again, women are decidedly more sober in their judgment than
+we are, so that they do not see more in things than is really there;
+whilst, if our passions are aroused, we are apt to see things in an
+exaggerated way, or imagine what does not exist.
+
+The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why it is that
+women show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men do, and so treat
+them with more kindness and interest; and why it is that, on the
+contrary, they are inferior to men in point of justice, and less
+honorable and conscientious. For it is just because their reasoning
+power is weak that present circumstances have such a hold over them,
+and those concrete things, which lie directly before their eyes,
+exercise a power which is seldom counteracted to any extent by
+abstract principles of thought, by fixed rules of conduct, firm
+resolutions, or, in general, by consideration for the past and the
+future, or regard for what is absent and remote. Accordingly, they
+possess the first and main elements that go to make a virtuous
+character, but they are deficient in those secondary qualities which
+are often a necessary instrument in the formation of it.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: In this respect they may be compared to an animal
+organism which contains a liver but no gall-bladder. Here let me refer
+to what I have said in my treatise on _The Foundation of Morals_, §
+17.]
+
+Hence, it will be found that the fundamental fault of the female
+character is that it has _no sense of justice_. This is mainly due to
+the fact, already mentioned, that women are defective in the powers of
+reasoning and deliberation; but it is also traceable to the position
+which Nature has assigned to them as the weaker sex. They are
+dependent, not upon strength, but upon craft; and hence their
+instinctive capacity for cunning, and their ineradicable tendency to
+say what is not true. For as lions are provided with claws and teeth,
+and elephants and boars with tusks, bulls with horns, and cuttle fish
+with its clouds of inky fluid, so Nature has equipped woman, for her
+defence and protection, with the arts of dissimulation; and all the
+power which Nature has conferred upon man in the shape of physical
+strength and reason, has been bestowed upon women in this form. Hence,
+dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a quality of the
+stupid as of the clever. It is as natural for them to make use of it
+on every occasion as it is for those animals to employ their means of
+defence when they are attacked; they have a feeling that in doing so
+they are only within their rights. Therefore a woman who is perfectly
+truthful and not given to dissimulation is perhaps an impossibility,
+and for this very reason they are so quick at seeing through
+dissimulation in others that it is not a wise thing to attempt it with
+them. But this fundamental defect which I have stated, with all
+that it entails, gives rise to falsity, faithlessness, treachery,
+ingratitude, and so on. Perjury in a court of justice is more
+often committed by women than by men. It may, indeed, be generally
+questioned whether women ought to be sworn in at all. From time to
+time one finds repeated cases everywhere of ladies, who want for
+nothing, taking things from shop-counters when no one is looking, and
+making off with them.
+
+Nature has appointed that the propagation of the species shall be the
+business of men who are young, strong and handsome; so that the race
+may not degenerate. This is the firm will and purpose of Nature in
+regard to the species, and it finds its expression in the passions of
+women. There is no law that is older or more powerful than this. Woe,
+then, to the man who sets up claims and interests that will conflict
+with it; whatever he may say and do, they will be unmercifully crushed
+at the first serious encounter. For the innate rule that governs
+women's conduct, though it is secret and unformulated, nay,
+unconscious in its working, is this: _We are justified in deceiving
+those who think they have acquired rights over the species by paying
+little attention to the individual, that is, to us. The constitution
+and, therefore, the welfare of the species have been placed in our
+hands and committed to our care, through the control we obtain over
+the next generation, which proceeds from us; let us discharge our
+duties conscientiously_. But women have no abstract knowledge of this
+leading principle; they are conscious of it only as a concrete fact;
+and they have no other method of giving expression to it than the
+way in which they act when the opportunity arrives. And then their
+conscience does not trouble them so much as we fancy; for in the
+darkest recesses of their heart, they are aware that in committing a
+breach of their duty towards the individual, they have all the
+better fulfilled their duty towards the species, which is infinitely
+greater.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: A more detailed discussion of the matter in question may
+be found in my chief work, _Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol.
+ii, ch. 44.]
+
+And since women exist in the main solely for the propagation of the
+species, and are not destined for anything else, they live, as a rule,
+more for the species than for the individual, and in their hearts
+take the affairs of the species more seriously than those of the
+individual. This gives their whole life and being a certain levity;
+the general bent of their character is in a direction fundamentally
+different from that of man; and it is this to which produces that
+discord in married life which is so frequent, and almost the normal
+state.
+
+The natural feeling between men is mere indifference, but
+between women it is actual enmity. The reason of this is that
+trade-jealousy--_odium figulinum_--which, in the case of men does not
+go beyond the confines of their own particular pursuit; but, with
+women, embraces the whole sex; since they have only one kind of
+business. Even when they meet in the street, women look at one another
+like Guelphs and Ghibellines. And it is a patent fact that when two
+women make first acquaintance with each other, they behave with more
+constraint and dissimulation than two men would show in a like case;
+and hence it is that an exchange of compliments between two women is a
+much more ridiculous proceeding than between two men. Further, whilst
+a man will, as a general rule, always preserve a certain amount of
+consideration and humanity in speaking to others, even to those who
+are in a very inferior position, it is intolerable to see how proudly
+and disdainfully a fine lady will generally behave towards one who is
+in a lower social rank (I do not mean a woman who is in her service),
+whenever she speaks to her. The reason of this may be that, with
+women, differences of rank are much more precarious than with us;
+because, while a hundred considerations carry weight in our case,
+in theirs there is only one, namely, with which man they have found
+favor; as also that they stand in much nearer relations with one
+another than men do, in consequence of the one-sided nature of their
+calling. This makes them endeavor to lay stress upon differences of
+rank.
+
+It is only the man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulses
+that could give the name of _the fair sex_ to that under-sized,
+narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged race; for the whole
+beauty of the sex is bound up with this impulse. Instead of calling
+them beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as
+the un-aesthetic sex. Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine
+art, have they really and truly any sense or susceptibility; it is a
+mere mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their
+endeavor to please. Hence, as a result of this, they are incapable of
+taking a _purely objective interest_ in anything; and the reason of it
+seems to me to be as follows. A man tries to acquire _direct_ mastery
+over things, either by understanding them, or by forcing them to do
+his will. But a woman is always and everywhere reduced to obtaining
+this mastery _indirectly_, namely, through a man; and whatever direct
+mastery she may have is entirely confined to him. And so it lies in
+woman's nature to look upon everything only as a means for conquering
+man; and if she takes an interest in anything else, it is simulated--a
+mere roundabout way of gaining her ends by coquetry, and feigning what
+she does not feel. Hence, even Rousseau declared: _Women have, in
+general, no love for any art; they have no proper knowledge of any;
+and they have no genius_.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Lettre à d'Alembert, Note xx.]
+
+No one who sees at all below the surface can have failed to remark the
+same thing. You need only observe the kind of attention women bestow
+upon a concert, an opera, or a play--the childish simplicity, for
+example, with which they keep on chattering during the finest passages
+in the greatest masterpieces. If it is true that the Greeks excluded
+women from their theatres they were quite right in what they did;
+at any rate you would have been able to hear what was said upon the
+stage. In our day, besides, or in lieu of saying, _Let a woman keep
+silence in the church_, it would be much to the point to say _Let a
+woman keep silence in the theatre_. This might, perhaps, be put up in
+big letters on the curtain.
+
+And you cannot expect anything else of women if you consider that the
+most distinguished intellects among the whole sex have never managed
+to produce a single achievement in the fine arts that is really great,
+genuine, and original; or given to the world any work of permanent
+value in any sphere. This is most strikingly shown in regard to
+painting, where mastery of technique is at least as much within their
+power as within ours--and hence they are diligent in cultivating it;
+but still, they have not a single great painting to boast of, just
+because they are deficient in that objectivity of mind which is so
+directly indispensable in painting. They never get beyond a subjective
+point of view. It is quite in keeping with this that ordinary women
+have no real susceptibility for art at all; for Nature proceeds in
+strict sequence--_non facit saltum_. And Huarte[1] in his _Examen de
+ingenios para las scienzias_--a book which has been famous for
+three hundred years--denies women the possession of all the higher
+faculties. The case is not altered by particular and partial
+exceptions; taken as a whole, women are, and remain, thorough-going
+Philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd arrangement
+which allows them to share the rank and title of their husbands they
+are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. And, further, it is
+just because they are Philistines that modern society, where they
+take the lead and set the tone, is in such a bad way. Napoleon's
+saying--that _women have no rank_--should be adopted as the right
+standpoint in determining their position in society; and as regards
+their other qualities Chamfort[2] makes the very true remark: _They
+are made to trade with our own weaknesses and our follies, but not
+with our reason. The sympathies that exist between them and men are
+skin-deep only, and do not touch the mind or the feelings or the
+character_. They form the _sexus sequior_--the second sex, inferior in
+every respect to the first; their infirmities should be treated
+with consideration; but to show them great reverence is extremely
+ridiculous, and lowers us in their eyes. When Nature made two
+divisions of the human race, she did not draw the line exactly through
+the middle. These divisions are polar and opposed to each other, it is
+true; but the difference between them is not qualitative merely, it is
+also quantitative.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--- Juan Huarte (1520?-1590)
+practised as a physician at Madrid. The work cited by Schopenhauer is
+known, and has been translated into many languages.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Translator's Note_.--See _Counsels and Maxims_, p. 12,
+Note.]
+
+This is just the view which the ancients took of woman, and the view
+which people in the East take now; and their judgment as to her proper
+position is much more correct than ours, with our old French notions
+of gallantry and our preposterous system of reverence--that highest
+product of Teutonico-Christian stupidity. These notions have served
+only to make women more arrogant and overbearing; so that one is
+occasionally reminded of the holy apes in Benares, who in the
+consciousness of their sanctity and inviolable position, think they
+can do exactly as they please.
+
+But in the West, the woman, and especially the _lady_, finds herself
+in a false position; for woman, rightly called by the ancients,
+_sexus sequior_, is by no means fit to be the object of our honor and
+veneration, or to hold her head higher than man and be on equal terms
+with him. The consequences of this false position are sufficiently
+obvious. Accordingly, it would be a very desirable thing if this
+Number-Two of the human race were in Europe also relegated to her
+natural place, and an end put to that lady nuisance, which not only
+moves all Asia to laughter, but would have been ridiculed by Greece
+and Rome as well. It is impossible to calculate the good effects which
+such a change would bring about in our social, civil and political
+arrangements. There would be no necessity for the Salic law: it would
+be a superfluous truism. In Europe the _lady_, strictly so-called, is
+a being who should not exist at all; she should be either a housewife
+or a girl who hopes to become one; and she should be brought up, not
+to be arrogant, but to be thrifty and submissive. It is just because
+there are such people as _ladies_ in Europe that the women of the
+lower classes, that is to say, the great majority of the sex, are much
+more unhappy than they are in the East. And even Lord Byron says:
+_Thought of the state of women under the ancient Greeks--convenient
+enough. Present state, a remnant of the barbarism of the chivalric
+and the feudal ages--artificial and unnatural. They ought to mind
+home--and be well fed and clothed--but not mixed in society. Well
+educated, too, in religion--but to read neither poetry nor politics--
+nothing but books of piety and cookery. Music--drawing--dancing--also
+a little gardening and ploughing now and then. I have seen them
+mending the roads in Epirus with good success. Why not, as well as
+hay-making and milking_?
+
+The laws of marriage prevailing in Europe consider the woman as the
+equivalent of the man--start, that is to say, from a wrong position.
+In our part of the world where monogamy is the rule, to marry means to
+halve one's rights and double one's duties. Now, when the laws gave
+women equal rights with man, they ought to have also endowed her with
+a masculine intellect. But the fact is, that just in proportion as
+the honors and privileges which the laws accord to women, exceed the
+amount which nature gives, is there a diminution in the number
+of women who really participate in these privileges; and all the
+remainder are deprived of their natural rights by just so much as is
+given to the others over and above their share. For the institution of
+monogamy, and the laws of marriage which it entails, bestow upon
+the woman an unnatural position of privilege, by considering her
+throughout as the full equivalent of the man, which is by no means
+the case; and seeing this, men who are shrewd and prudent very often
+scruple to make so great a sacrifice and to acquiesce in so unfair an
+arrangement.
+
+Consequently, whilst among polygamous nations every woman is provided
+for, where monogamy prevails the number of married women is limited;
+and there remains over a large number of women without stay or
+support, who, in the upper classes, vegetate as useless old maids, and
+in the lower succumb to hard work for which they are not suited; or
+else become _filles de joie_, whose life is as destitute of joy as it
+is of honor. But under the circumstances they become a necessity; and
+their position is openly recognized as serving the special end of
+warding off temptation from those women favored by fate, who have
+found, or may hope to find, husbands. In London alone there are 80,000
+prostitutes. What are they but the women, who, under the institution
+of monogamy have come off worse? Theirs is a dreadful fate: they are
+human sacrifices offered up on the altar of monogamy. The women whose
+wretched position is here described are the inevitable set-off to the
+European lady with her arrogance and pretension. Polygamy is therefore
+a real benefit to the female sex if it is taken as a whole. And, from
+another point of view, there is no true reason why a man whose wife
+suffers from chronic illness, or remains barren, or has gradually
+become too old for him, should not take a second. The motives which
+induce so many people to become converts to Mormonism[1] appear to
+be just those which militate against the unnatural institution of
+monogamy.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The Mormons have recently given up
+polygamy, and received the American franchise in its stead.]
+
+Moreover, the bestowal of unnatural rights upon women has imposed upon
+them unnatural duties, and, nevertheless, a breach of these duties
+makes them unhappy. Let me explain. A man may often think that his
+social or financial position will suffer if he marries, unless he
+makes some brilliant alliance. His desire will then be to win a woman
+of his own choice under conditions other than those of marriage, such
+as will secure her position and that of the children. However fair,
+reasonable, fit and proper these conditions may be, and the woman
+consents by foregoing that undue amount of privilege which marriage
+alone can bestow, she to some extent loses her honor, because marriage
+is the basis of civic society; and she will lead an unhappy life,
+since human nature is so constituted that we pay an attention to the
+opinion of other people which is out of all proportion to its value.
+On the other hand, if she does not consent, she runs the risk either
+of having to be given in marriage to a man whom she does not like, or
+of being landed high and dry as an old maid; for the period during
+which she has a chance of being settled for life is very short. And
+in view of this aspect of the institution of monogamy, Thomasius'
+profoundly learned treatise, _de Concubinatu_, is well worth reading;
+for it shows that, amongst all nations and in all ages, down to the
+Lutheran Reformation, concubinage was permitted; nay, that it was an
+institution which was to a certain extent actually recognized by law,
+and attended with no dishonor. It was only the Lutheran Reformation
+that degraded it from this position. It was seen to be a further
+justification for the marriage of the clergy; and then, after that,
+the Catholic Church did not dare to remain behind-hand in the matter.
+
+There is no use arguing about polygamy; it must be taken as _de facto_
+existing everywhere, and the only question is as to how it shall be
+regulated. Where are there, then, any real monogamists? We all live,
+at any rate, for a time, and most of us, always, in polygamy. And so,
+since every man needs many women, there is nothing fairer than to
+allow him, nay, to make it incumbent upon him, to provide for many
+women. This will reduce woman to her true and natural position as
+a subordinate being; and the _lady_--that monster of European
+civilization and Teutonico-Christian stupidity--will disappear from
+the world, leaving only _women_, but no more _unhappy women_, of whom
+Europe is now full.
+
+In India, no woman is ever independent, but in accordance with the law
+of Mamu,[1] she stands under the control of her father, her husband,
+her brother or her son. It is, to be sure, a revolting thing that a
+widow should immolate herself upon her husband's funeral pyre; but it
+is also revolting that she should spend her husband's money with her
+paramours--the money for which he toiled his whole life long, in the
+consoling belief that he was providing for his children. Happy are
+those who have kept the middle course--_medium tenuere beati_.
+
+[Footnote 1: Ch. V., v. 148.]
+
+The first love of a mother for her child is, with the lower animals as
+with men, of a purely _instinctive_ character, and so it ceases when
+the child is no longer in a physically helpless condition. After that,
+the first love should give way to one that is based on habit and
+reason; but this often fails to make its appearance, especially where
+the mother did not love the father. The love of a father for his child
+is of a different order, and more likely to last; because it has its
+foundation in the fact that in the child he recognizes his own inner
+self; that is to say, his love for it is metaphysical in its origin.
+
+In almost all nations, whether of the ancient or the modern world,
+even amongst the Hottentots,[1] property is inherited by the male
+descendants alone; it is only in Europe that a departure has taken
+place; but not amongst the nobility, however. That the property which
+has cost men long years of toil and effort, and been won with so much
+difficulty, should afterwards come into the hands of women, who then,
+in their lack of reason, squander it in a short time, or otherwise
+fool it away, is a grievance and a wrong as serious as it is common,
+which should be prevented by limiting the right of women to inherit.
+In my opinion, the best arrangement would be that by which women,
+whether widows or daughters, should never receive anything beyond the
+interest for life on property secured by mortgage, and in no case the
+property itself, or the capital, except where all male descendants
+fail. The people who make money are men, not women; and it follows
+from this that women are neither justified in having unconditional
+possession of it, nor fit persons to be entrusted with its
+administration. When wealth, in any true sense of the word, that is to
+say, funds, houses or land, is to go to them as an inheritance they
+should never be allowed the free disposition of it. In their case a
+guardian should always be appointed; and hence they should never be
+given the free control of their own children, wherever it can be
+avoided. The vanity of women, even though it should not prove to be
+greater than that of men, has this much danger in it, that it takes an
+entirely material direction. They are vain, I mean, of their personal
+beauty, and then of finery, show and magnificence. That is just why
+they are so much in their element in society. It is this, too, which
+makes them so inclined to be extravagant, all the more as their
+reasoning power is low. Accordingly we find an ancient writer
+describing woman as in general of an extravagant nature--[Greek: Gynae
+to synolon esti dapanaeron Physei][2] But with men vanity often takes
+the direction of non-material advantages, such as intellect, learning,
+courage.
+
+[Footnote 1: Leroy, _Lettres philosophiques sur l'intelligence et la
+perfectibilité des animaux, avec quelques lettres sur l'homme_, p.
+298, Paris, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Brunck's _Gnomici poetae graeci_, v. 115.]
+
+In the _Politics_[1] Aristotle explains the great disadvantage which
+accrued to the Spartans from the fact that they conceded too much to
+their women, by giving them the right of inheritance and dower, and a
+great amount of independence; and he shows how much this contributed
+to Sparta's fall. May it not be the case in France that the influence
+of women, which went on increasing steadily from the time of Louis
+XIII., was to blame for that gradual corruption of the Court and the
+Government, which brought about the Revolution of 1789, of which all
+subsequent disturbances have been the fruit? However that may be, the
+false position which women occupy, demonstrated as it is, in the most
+glaring way, by the institution of the _lady_, is a fundamental defect
+in our social scheme, and this defect, proceeding from the very heart
+of it, must spread its baneful influence in all directions.
+
+[Footnote 1: Bk. I, ch. 9.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That woman is by nature meant to obey may be seen by the fact that
+every woman who is placed in the unnatural position of complete
+independence, immediately attaches herself to some man, by whom she
+allows herself to be guided and ruled. It is because she needs a lord
+and master. If she is young, it will be a lover; if she is old, a
+priest.
+
+
+
+
+ON NOISE.
+
+
+Kant wrote a treatise on _The Vital Powers_. I should prefer to write
+a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes
+the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved
+a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is
+true--nay, a great many people--who smile at such things, because they
+are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are
+also not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a
+word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that
+the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On
+the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the
+biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their
+personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the
+case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it
+should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the
+matter, it is only for want of an opportunity.
+
+This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a
+large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it
+had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers,
+loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of
+an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its
+attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its
+superiority depends upon its power of concentration--of bringing all
+its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave
+mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon
+it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is
+why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike
+to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and
+distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that
+violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are
+not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and
+intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, _Never
+Interrupt_! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent
+of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but
+also a disruption of thought. Of course, where there is nothing to
+interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it
+happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and
+distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All
+I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking--just as though I
+were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what
+it is. Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most
+inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips--a
+truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets
+of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts
+an end to all quiet thought. That this cracking of whips should be
+allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless
+and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an
+idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden,
+sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of
+reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it
+must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business
+of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker
+its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder,
+much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound,
+be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed
+cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your
+head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a
+sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.
+
+With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really
+cannot see why a fellow who is taking away a wagon-load of gravel or
+dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts
+which may happen to be springing up in ten thousand heads--the number
+he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the
+town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are
+horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the
+crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every
+pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy.
+If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making
+this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite
+the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only
+unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon
+the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it,
+the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted
+feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any
+faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless
+cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is
+proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to
+give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much
+more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to
+crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its
+presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise.
+For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing,
+animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive
+to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances
+of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.
+
+It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure
+wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of
+the community who work with their heads by those who work with their
+hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of
+barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by
+a police-notice to the effect that every lash shall have a knot at the
+end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to
+the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any
+kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow
+who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed
+post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards
+long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and
+receive five really good blows with a stick.
+
+All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting
+to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment,
+will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more
+disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see
+a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses,
+and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch
+become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this
+practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere
+treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be
+the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of
+consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters,
+porters, messengers--these are the beasts of burden amongst mankind;
+by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with
+forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of
+the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many
+great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to
+the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should
+soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association
+of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.
+
+Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations
+will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may
+take example by it and follow suit.[1] Meanwhile, I may quote what
+Thomas Hood says of them[2]: _For a musical nation, they are the most
+noisy I ever met with_. That they are so is due to the fact, not that
+they are more fond of making a noise than other people--they would
+deny it if you asked them--but that their senses are obtuse;
+consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It
+does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do
+not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The
+general toleration of unnecessary noise--the slamming of doors, for
+instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing--is direct evidence
+that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In
+Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever
+think for mere noise--to mention one form of it, the way in which
+drumming goes on for no purpose at all.
+
+[Footnote 1: According to a notice issued by the Society for the
+Protection of Animals in Munich, the superfluous whipping and the
+cracking of whips were, in December, 1858, positively forbidden in
+Nuremberg.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In _Up the Rhine_.]
+
+Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this
+chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I
+refer to a poetical epistle in _terzo rimo_ by the famous painter
+Bronzino, entitled _De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini_. It gives a
+detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the
+various noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragicomic style,
+it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in _Opere burlesche del
+Berni, Aretino ed altri_, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in
+Utrecht in 1771.
+
+
+
+
+A FEW PARABLES.
+
+
+In a field of ripening corn I came to a place which had been trampled
+down by some ruthless foot; and as I glanced amongst the countless
+stalks, every one of them alike, standing there so erect and bearing
+the full weight of the ear, I saw a multitude of different flowers,
+red and blue and violet. How pretty they looked as they grew there so
+naturally with their little foliage! But, thought I, they are quite
+useless; they bear no fruit; they are mere weeds, suffered to remain
+only because there is no getting rid of them. And yet, but for these
+flowers, there would be nothing to charm the eye in that wilderness
+of stalks. They are emblematic of poetry and art, which, in civic
+life--so severe, but still useful and not without its fruit--play the
+same part as flowers in the corn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are some really beautifully landscapes in the world, but the
+human figures in them are poor, and you had not better look at them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The fly should be used as the symbol of impertinence and audacity; for
+whilst all other animals shun man more than anything else, and run
+away even before he comes near them, the fly lights upon his very
+nose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two Chinamen traveling in Europe went to the theatre for the first
+time. One of them did nothing but study the machinery, and he
+succeeded in finding out how it was worked. The other tried to get at
+the meaning of the piece in spite of his ignorance of the language.
+Here you have the Astronomer and the Philosopher.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wisdom which is only theoretical and never put into practice, is like
+a double rose; its color and perfume are delightful, but it withers
+away and leaves no seed.
+
+No rose without a thorn. Yes, but many a thorn without a rose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A wide-spreading apple-tree stood in full bloom, and behind it a
+straight fir raised its dark and tapering head. _Look at the thousands
+of gay blossoms which cover me everywhere_, said the apple-tree; _what
+have you to show in comparison? Dark-green needles! That is true_,
+replied the fir, _but when winter comes, you will be bared of your
+glory; and I shall be as I am now_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once, as I was botanizing under an oak, I found amongst a number
+of other plants of similar height one that was dark in color, with
+tightly closed leaves and a stalk that was very straight and stiff.
+When I touched it, it said to me in firm tones: _Let me alone; I am
+not for your collection, like these plants to which Nature has given
+only a single year of life. I am a little oak_.
+
+So it is with a man whose influence is to last for hundreds of years.
+As a child, as a youth, often even as a full-grown man, nay, his whole
+life long, he goes about among his fellows, looking like them and
+seemingly as unimportant. But let him alone; he will not die. Time
+will come and bring those who know how to value him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The man who goes up in a balloon does not feel as though he were
+ascending; he only sees the earth sinking deeper under him.
+
+There is a mystery which only those will understand who feel the truth
+of it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Your estimation of a man's size will be affected by the distance at
+which you stand from him, but in two entirely opposite ways according
+as it is his physical or his mental stature that you are considering.
+The one will seem smaller, the farther off you move; the other,
+greater.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nature covers all her works with a varnish of beauty, like the tender
+bloom that is breathed, as it were, on the surface of a peach or a
+plum. Painters and poets lay themselves out to take off this varnish,
+to store it up, and give it us to be enjoyed at our leisure. We drink
+deep of this beauty long before we enter upon life itself; and when
+afterwards we come to see the works of Nature for ourselves, the
+varnish is gone: the artists have used it up and we have enjoyed it in
+advance. Thus it is that the world so often appears harsh and devoid
+of charm, nay, actually repulsive. It were better to leave us to
+discover the varnish for ourselves. This would mean that we should
+not enjoy it all at once and in large quantities; we should have no
+finished pictures, no perfect poems; but we should look at all things
+in that genial and pleasing light in which even now a child of Nature
+sometimes sees them--some one who has not anticipated his aesthetic
+pleasures by the help of art, or taken the charms of life too early.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Cathedral in Mayence is so shut in by the houses that are built
+round about it, that there is no one spot from which you can see it
+as a whole. This is symbolic of everything great or beautiful in the
+world. It ought to exist for its own sake alone, but before very long
+it is misused to serve alien ends. People come from all directions
+wanting to find in it support and maintenance for themselves; they
+stand in the way and spoil its effect. To be sure, there is nothing
+surprising in this, for in a world of need and imperfection everything
+is seized upon which can be used to satisfy want. Nothing is exempt
+from this service, no, not even those very things which arise only
+when need and want are for a moment lost sight of--the beautiful and
+the true, sought for their own sakes.
+
+This is especially illustrated and corroborated in the case of
+institutions--whether great or small, wealthy or poor, founded, no
+matter in what century or in what land, to maintain and advance human
+knowledge, and generally to afford help to those intellectual efforts
+which ennoble the race. Wherever these institutions may be, it is not
+long before people sneak up to them under the pretence of wishing to
+further those special ends, while they are really led on by the desire
+to secure the emoluments which have been left for their furtherance,
+and thus to satisfy certain coarse and brutal instincts of their own.
+Thus it is that we come to have so many charlatans in every branch
+of knowledge. The charlatan takes very different shapes according
+to circumstances; but at bottom he is a man who cares nothing about
+knowledge for its own sake, and only strives to gain the semblance
+of it that he may use it for his own personal ends, which are always
+selfish and material.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of
+the weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he
+crushes both them and himself. Or he is like Gulliver at Lilliput,
+overwhelmed by an enormous number of little men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A mother gave her children Aesop's fables to read, in the hope of
+educating and improving their minds; but they very soon brought the
+book back, and the eldest, wise beyond his years, delivered himself as
+follows: _This is no book for us; it's much too childish and stupid.
+You can't make us believe that foxes and wolves and ravens are able to
+talk; we've got beyond stories of that kind_!
+
+In these young hopefuls you have the enlightened Rationalists of the
+future.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in
+winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills,
+they were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together
+again, when just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of
+huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off
+by remaining at a little distance from one another. In the same way
+the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be
+mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of
+their nature. The moderate distance which they at last discover to be
+the only tolerable condition of intercourse, is the code of politeness
+and fine manners; and those who transgress it are roughly told--in
+the English phrase--_to keep their distance_. By this arrangement the
+mutual need of warmth is only very moderately satisfied; but then
+people do not get pricked. A man who has some heat in himself prefers
+to remain outside, where he will neither prick other people nor get
+pricked himself.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER;
+STUDIES IN PESSIMISM***
+
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+******* This file should be named 10732-8.txt or 10732-8.zip *******
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+      The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism, by Arthur
+      Schopenhauer
+    </title>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in
+Pessimism, by Arthur Schopenhauer, Translated by T. Bailey Saunders
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism
+
+Author: Arthur Schopenhauer
+
+Release Date: January 17, 2004  [eBook #10732]
+Last Updated: September 25, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
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+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER;
+STUDIES IN PESSIMISM***
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+</pre>
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      THE ESSAYS OF<br /><br /> ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER:<br /><br /> STUDIES IN
+      PESSIMISM
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Arthur Schopenhauer
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      Translated By T. Bailey Saunders
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> NOTE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> ON SUICIDE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IMMORTALITY:[1] A DIALOGUE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> FURTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> ON EDUCATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> OF WOMEN. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> ON NOISE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> A FEW PARABLES. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      NOTE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The Essays here presented form a further selection from Schopenhauer's <i>Parerga</i>,
+      brought together under a title which is not to be found in the original,
+      and does not claim to apply to every chapter in the volume. The first
+      essay is, in the main, a rendering of the philosopher's remarks under the
+      heading of <i>Nachträge zur Lehre vom Leiden der Welt</i>, together with
+      certain parts of another section entitled <i>Nachträge zur Lehre von der
+      Bejahung und Verneinung des Willens zum Leben</i>. Such omissions as I
+      have made are directed chiefly by the desire to avoid repeating arguments
+      already familiar to readers of the other volumes in this series. The <i>Dialogue
+      on Immortality</i> sums up views expressed at length in the philosopher's
+      chief work, and treated again in the <i>Parerga</i>. The <i>Psychological
+      Observations</i> in this and the previous volume practically exhaust the
+      chapter of the original which bears this title.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The essay on <i>Women</i> must not be taken in jest. It expresses
+      Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer of the
+      faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question which is
+      just now receiving a good deal of attention among us.
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      T.B.S.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Unless <i>suffering</i> is the direct and immediate object of life, our
+      existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the
+      enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and
+      originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as
+      serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate
+      misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but
+      misfortune in general is the rule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of
+      philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is just
+      what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is
+      particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to
+      strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism.<a
+      href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1">1</a> It is the
+      good which is negative; in other words, happiness and satisfaction always
+      imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain brought to an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>,
+      cf. <i>Thèod</i>, §153.&mdash;Leibnitz argued that evil is a negative
+      quality&mdash;<i>i.e</i>., the absence of good; and that its active and
+      seemingly positive character is an incidental and not an essential part of
+      its nature. Cold, he said, is only the absence of the power of heat, and
+      the active power of expansion in freezing water is an incidental and not
+      an essential part of the nature of cold. The fact is, that the power of
+      expansion in freezing water is really an increase of repulsion amongst its
+      molecules; and Schopenhauer is quite right in calling the whole argument a
+      sophism.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not nearly so
+      pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at
+      any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes
+      to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the
+      respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the
+      thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself; and
+      this is a form of consolation open to every one. But what an awful fate
+      this means for mankind as a whole!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of the
+      butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey. So it is
+      that in our good days we are all unconscious of the evil Fate may have
+      presently in store for us&mdash;sickness, poverty, mutilation, loss of
+      sight or reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is
+      continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always
+      coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time
+      stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of
+      boredom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But misfortune has its uses; for, as our bodily frame would burst asunder
+      if the pressure of the atmosphere was removed, so, if the lives of men
+      were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if everything they took
+      in hand were successful, they would be so swollen with arrogance that,
+      though they might not burst, they would present the spectacle of unbridled
+      folly&mdash;nay, they would go mad. And I may say, further, that a certain
+      amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every man at all times.
+      A ship without ballast is unstable and will not go straight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Certain it is that <i>work, worry, labor</i> and <i>trouble</i>, form the
+      lot of almost all men their whole life long. But if all wishes were
+      fulfilled as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what
+      would they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and
+      ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his
+      Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of boredom
+      or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and murders; so
+      that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on itself than it has
+      now to accept at the hands of Nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in
+      a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and
+      eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a blessing that we do not
+      know what is really going to happen. Could we foresee it, there are times
+      when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death,
+      but to life, and as yet all unconscious of what their sentence means.
+      Nevertheless, every man desires to reach old age; in other words, a state
+      of life of which it may be said: "It is bad to-day, and it will be worse
+      to-morrow; and so on till the worst of all."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery,
+      pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course, you
+      will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little as on
+      the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life; and if,
+      here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing the
+      blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even though things have
+      gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the more clearly you
+      will feel that, on the whole, life is <i>a disappointment, nay, a cheat</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are old,
+      after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling they will have at
+      the sight of each other will be one of complete disappointment at life as
+      a whole; because their thoughts will be carried back to that earlier time
+      when life seemed so fair as it lay spread out before them in the rosy
+      light of dawn, promised so much&mdash;and then performed so little. This
+      feeling will so completely predominate over every other that they will not
+      even consider it necessary to give it words; but on either side it will be
+      silently assumed, and form the ground-work of all they have to talk about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits some
+      time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the performance
+      twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be seen only once;
+      and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect
+      is gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While no man is much to be envied for his lot, there are countless numbers
+      whose fate is to be deplored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Life is a task to be done. It is a fine thing to say <i>defunctus est</i>;
+      it means that the man has done his task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone,
+      would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so
+      much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of
+      existence? or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden
+      upon it in cold blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless&mdash;because
+      I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the
+      Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers in
+      peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to the
+      lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham
+      philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please, and
+      you will get it. Your University professors are bound to preach optimism;
+      and it is an easy and agreeable task to upset their theories.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have reminded the reader that every state of welfare, every feeling of
+      satisfaction, is negative in its character; that is to say, it consists in
+      freedom from pain, which is the positive element of existence. It follows,
+      therefore, that the happiness of any given life is to be measured, not by
+      its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to which it has been free from
+      suffering&mdash;from positive evil. If this is the true standpoint, the
+      lower animals appear to enjoy a happier destiny than man. Let us examine
+      the matter a little more closely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However varied the forms that human happiness and misery may take, leading
+      a man to seek the one and shun the other, the material basis of it all is
+      bodily pleasure or bodily pain. This basis is very restricted: it is
+      simply health, food, protection from wet and cold, the satisfaction of the
+      sexual instinct; or else the absence of these things. Consequently, as far
+      as real physical pleasure is concerned, the man is not better off than the
+      brute, except in so far as the higher possibilities of his nervous system
+      make him more sensitive to every kind of pleasure, but also, it must be
+      remembered, to every kind of pain. But then compared with the brute, how
+      much stronger are the passions aroused in him! what an immeasurable
+      difference there is in the depth and vehemence of his emotions!&mdash;and
+      yet, in the one case, as in the other, all to produce the same result in
+      the end: namely, health, food, clothing, and so on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief source of all this passion is that thought for what is absent
+      and future, which, with man, exercises such a powerful influence upon all
+      he does. It is this that is the real origin of his cares, his hopes, his
+      fears&mdash;emotions which affect him much more deeply than could ever be
+      the case with those present joys and sufferings to which the brute is
+      confined. In his powers of reflection, memory and foresight, man
+      possesses, as it were, a machine for condensing and storing up his
+      pleasures and his sorrows. But the brute has nothing of the kind; whenever
+      it is in pain, it is as though it were suffering for the first time, even
+      though the same thing should have previously happened to it times out of
+      number. It has no power of summing up its feelings. Hence its careless and
+      placid temper: how much it is to be envied! But in man reflection comes
+      in, with all the emotions to which it gives rise; and taking up the same
+      elements of pleasure and pain which are common to him and the brute, it
+      develops his susceptibility to happiness and misery to such a degree that,
+      at one moment the man is brought in an instant to a state of delight that
+      may even prove fatal, at another to the depths of despair and suicide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we carry our analysis a step farther, we shall find that, in order to
+      increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number and
+      pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much more
+      difficult to satisfy than those of the brute. Hence luxury in all its
+      forms; delicate food, the use of tobacco and opium, spirituous liquors,
+      fine clothes, and the thousand and one things than he considers necessary
+      to his existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And above and beyond all this, there is a separate and peculiar source of
+      pleasure, and consequently of pain, which man has established for himself,
+      also as the result of using his powers of reflection; and this occupies
+      him out of all proportion to its value, nay, almost more than all his
+      other interests put together&mdash;I mean ambition and the feeling of
+      honor and shame; in plain words, what he thinks about the opinion other
+      people have of him. Taking a thousand forms, often very strange ones, this
+      becomes the goal of almost all the efforts he makes that are not rooted in
+      physical pleasure or pain. It is true that besides the sources of pleasure
+      which he has in common with the brute, man has the pleasures of the mind
+      as well. These admit of many gradations, from the most innocent trifling
+      or the merest talk up to the highest intellectual achievements; but there
+      is the accompanying boredom to be set against them on the side of
+      suffering. Boredom is a form of suffering unknown to brutes, at any rate
+      in their natural state; it is only the very cleverest of them who show
+      faint traces of it when they are domesticated; whereas in the case of man
+      it has become a downright scourge. The crowd of miserable wretches whose
+      one aim in life is to fill their purses but never to put anything into
+      their heads, offers a singular instance of this torment of boredom. Their
+      wealth becomes a punishment by delivering them up to misery of having
+      nothing to do; for, to escape it, they will rush about in all directions,
+      traveling here, there and everywhere. No sooner do they arrive in a place
+      than they are anxious to know what amusements it affords; just as though
+      they were beggars asking where they could receive a dole! Of a truth, need
+      and boredom are the two poles of human life. Finally, I may mention that
+      as regards the sexual relation, a man is committed to a peculiar
+      arrangement which drives him obstinately to choose one person. This
+      feeling grows, now and then, into a more or less passionate love,<a
+      href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2" id="linknoteref-2">2</a> which is
+      the source of little pleasure and much suffering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ I have treated this subject
+      at length in a special chapter of the second volume of my chief work.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is, however, a wonderful thing that the mere addition of thought should
+      serve to raise such a vast and lofty structure of human happiness and
+      misery; resting, too, on the same narrow basis of joy and sorrow as man
+      holds in common with the brute, and exposing him to such violent emotions,
+      to so many storms of passion, so much convulsion of feeling, that what he
+      has suffered stands written and may be read in the lines on his face. And
+      yet, when all is told, he has been struggling ultimately for the very same
+      things as the brute has attained, and with an incomparably smaller
+      expenditure of passion and pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in human
+      life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of life are
+      made much worse for man by the fact that death is something very real to
+      him. The brute flies from death instinctively without really knowing what
+      it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it in the way natural to a
+      man, who has this prospect always before his eyes. So that even if only a
+      few brutes die a natural death, and most of them live only just long
+      enough to transmit their species, and then, if not earlier, become the
+      prey of some other animal,&mdash;whilst man, on the other hand, manages to
+      make so-called natural death the rule, to which, however, there are a good
+      many exceptions,&mdash;the advantage is on the side of the brute, for the
+      reason stated above. But the fact is that man attains the natural term of
+      years just as seldom as the brute; because the unnatural way in which he
+      lives, and the strain of work and emotion, lead to a degeneration of the
+      race; and so his goal is not often reached.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brute is much more content with mere existence than man; the plant is
+      wholly so; and man finds satisfaction in it just in proportion as he is
+      dull and obtuse. Accordingly, the life of the brute carries less of sorrow
+      with it, but also less of joy, when compared with the life of man; and
+      while this may be traced, on the one side, to freedom from the torment of
+      <i>care</i> and <i>anxiety</i>, it is also due to the fact that <i>hope</i>,
+      in any real sense, is unknown to the brute. It is thus deprived of any
+      share in that which gives us the most and best of our joys and pleasures,
+      the mental anticipation of a happy future, and the inspiriting play of
+      phantasy, both of which we owe to our power of imagination. If the brute
+      is free from care, it is also, in this sense, without hope; in either
+      case, because its consciousness is limited to the present moment, to what
+      it can actually see before it. The brute is an embodiment of present
+      impulses, and hence what elements of fear and hope exist in its nature&mdash;and
+      they do not go very far&mdash;arise only in relation to objects that lie
+      before it and within reach of those impulses: whereas a man's range of
+      vision embraces the whole of his life, and extends far into the past and
+      future.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Following upon this, there is one respect in which brutes show real wisdom
+      when compared with us&mdash;I mean, their quiet, placid enjoyment of the
+      present moment. The tranquillity of mind which this seems to give them
+      often puts us to shame for the many times we allow our thoughts and our
+      cares to make us restless and discontented. And, in fact, those pleasures
+      of hope and anticipation which I have been mentioning are not to be had
+      for nothing. The delight which a man has in hoping for and looking forward
+      to some special satisfaction is a part of the real pleasure attaching to
+      it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards deducted; for the more we look
+      forward to anything, the less satisfaction we find in it when it comes.
+      But the brute's enjoyment is not anticipated, and therefore, suffers no
+      deduction; so that the actual pleasure of the moment comes to it whole and
+      unimpaired. In the same way, too, evil presses upon the brute only with
+      its own intrinsic weight; whereas with us the fear of its coming often
+      makes its burden ten times more grievous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up
+      entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight we
+      take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified, and in
+      some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that is free from
+      trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and preoccupations,
+      mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless creature, misuses
+      this quality of the brute to be more content than we are with mere
+      existence, and often works it to such an extent that he allows the brute
+      absolutely nothing more than mere, bare life. The bird which was made so
+      that it might rove over half of the world, he shuts up into the space of a
+      cubic foot, there to die a slow death in longing and crying for freedom;
+      for in a cage it does not sing for the pleasure of it. And when I see how
+      man misuses the dog, his best friend; how he ties up this intelligent
+      animal with a chain, I feel the deepest sympathy with the brute and
+      burning indignation against its master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall see later that by taking a very high standpoint it is possible to
+      justify the sufferings of mankind. But this justification cannot apply to
+      animals, whose sufferings, while in a great measure brought about by men,
+      are often considerable even apart from their agency.<a href="#linknote-3"
+      name="linknoteref-3" id="linknoteref-3">3</a> And so we are forced to ask,
+      Why and for what purpose does all this torment and agony exist? There is
+      nothing here to give the will pause; it is not free to deny itself and so
+      obtain redemption. There is only one consideration that may serve to
+      explain the sufferings of animals. It is this: that the will to live,
+      which underlies the whole world of phenomena, must, in their case satisfy
+      its cravings by feeding upon itself. This it does by forming a gradation
+      of phenomena, every one of which exists at the expense of another. I have
+      shown, however, that the capacity for suffering is less in animals than in
+      man. Any further explanation that may be given of their fate will be in
+      the nature of hypothesis, if not actually mythical in its character; and I
+      may leave the reader to speculate upon the matter for himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. <i>Welt als Wille und
+      Vorstellung</i>, vol. ii. p. 404.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Brahma</i> is said to have produced the world by a kind of fall or
+      mistake; and in order to atone for his folly, he is bound to remain in it
+      himself until he works out his redemption. As an account of the origin of
+      things, that is admirable! According to the doctrines of <i>Buddhism</i>,
+      the world came into being as the result of some inexplicable disturbance
+      in the heavenly calm of Nirvana, that blessed state obtained by expiation,
+      which had endured so long a time&mdash;the change taking place by a kind
+      of fatality. This explanation must be understood as having at bottom some
+      moral bearing; although it is illustrated by an exactly parallel theory in
+      the domain of physical science, which places the origin of the sun in a
+      primitive streak of mist, formed one knows not how. Subsequently, by a
+      series of moral errors, the world became gradually worse and worse&mdash;true
+      of the physical orders as well&mdash;until it assumed the dismal aspect it
+      wears to-day. Excellent! The <i>Greeks</i> looked upon the world and the
+      gods as the work of an inscrutable necessity. A passable explanation: we
+      may be content with it until we can get a better. Again, <i>Ormuzd</i> and
+      <i>Ahriman</i> are rival powers, continually at war. That is not bad. But
+      that a God like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and woe,
+      out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should then have
+      clapped his hands in praise of his own work, and declared everything to be
+      very good&mdash;that will not do at all! In its explanation of the origin
+      of the world, Judaism is inferior to any other form of religious doctrine
+      professed by a civilized nation; and it is quite in keeping with this that
+      it is the only one which presents no trace whatever of any belief in the
+      immortality of the soul.<a href="#linknote-4" name="linknoteref-4"
+      id="linknoteref-4">4</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ See <i>Parerga</i>, vol. i.
+      pp. 139 <i>et seq</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even though Leibnitz' contention, that this is the best of all possible
+      worlds, were correct, that would not justify God in having created it. For
+      he is the Creator not of the world only, but of possibility itself; and,
+      therefore, he ought to have so ordered possibility as that it would admit
+      of something better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this world
+      is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and, at the same time,
+      all-powerful Being; firstly, the misery which abounds in it everywhere;
+      and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest product, man, who is
+      a burlesque of what he should be. These things cannot be reconciled with
+      any such belief. On the contrary, they are just the facts which support
+      what I have been saying; they are our authority for viewing the world as
+      the outcome of our own misdeeds, and therefore, as something that had
+      better not have been. Whilst, under the former hypothesis, they amount to
+      a bitter accusation against the Creator, and supply material for sarcasm;
+      under the latter they form an indictment against our own nature, our own
+      will, and teach us a lesson of humility. They lead us to see that, like
+      the children of a libertine, we come into the world with the burden of sin
+      upon us; and that it is only through having continually to atone for this
+      sin that our existence is so miserable, and that its end is death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is nothing more certain than the general truth that it is the
+      grievous <i>sin of the world</i> which has produced the grievous <i>suffering
+      of the world</i>. I am not referring here to the physical connection
+      between these two things lying in the realm of experience; my meaning is
+      metaphysical. Accordingly, the sole thing that reconciles me to the Old
+      Testament is the story of the Fall. In my eyes, it is the only
+      metaphysical truth in that book, even though it appears in the form of an
+      allegory. There seems to me no better explanation of our existence than
+      that it is the result of some false step, some sin of which we are paying
+      the penalty. I cannot refrain from recommending the thoughtful reader a
+      popular, but at the same time, profound treatise on this subject by
+      Claudius<a href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" id="linknoteref-5">5</a>
+      which exhibits the essentially pessimistic spirit of Christianity. It is
+      entitled: <i>Cursed is the ground for thy sake</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;Matthias
+      Claudius (1740-1815), a popular poet, and friend of Klopstock, Herder and
+      Leasing. He edited the <i>Wandsbecker Bote</i>, in the fourth part of
+      which appeared the treatise mentioned above. He generally wrote under the
+      pseudonym of <i>Asmus</i>, and Schopenhauer often refers to him by this
+      name.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the ethics of the Greeks and the ethics of the Hindoos, there is a
+      glaring contrast. In the one case (with the exception, it must be
+      confessed, of Plato), the object of ethics is to enable a man to lead a
+      happy life; in the other, it is to free and redeem him from life
+      altogether&mdash;as is directly stated in the very first words of the <i>Sankhya
+      Karika</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Allied with this is the contrast between the Greek and the Christian idea
+      of death. It is strikingly presented in a visible form on a fine antique
+      sarcophagus in the gallery of Florence, which exhibits, in relief, the
+      whole series of ceremonies attending a wedding in ancient times, from the
+      formal offer to the evening when Hymen's torch lights the happy couple
+      home. Compare with that the Christian coffin, draped in mournful black and
+      surmounted with a crucifix! How much significance there is in these two
+      ways of finding comfort in death. They are opposed to each other, but each
+      is right. The one points to the <i>affirmation</i> of the will to live,
+      which remains sure of life for all time, however rapidly its forms may
+      change. The other, in the symbol of suffering and death, points to the <i>denial</i>
+      of the will to live, to redemption from this world, the domain of death
+      and devil. And in the question between the affirmation and the denial of
+      the will to live, Christianity is in the last resort right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The contrast which the New Testament presents when compared with the Old,
+      according to the ecclesiastical view of the matter, is just that existing
+      between my ethical system and the moral philosophy of Europe. The Old
+      Testament represents man as under the dominion of Law, in which, however,
+      there is no redemption. The New Testament declares Law to have failed,
+      frees man from its dominion,<a href="#linknote-6" name="linknoteref-6"
+      id="linknoteref-6">6</a> and in its stead preaches the kingdom of grace,
+      to be won by faith, love of neighbor and entire sacrifice of self. This is
+      the path of redemption from the evil of the world. The spirit of the New
+      Testament is undoubtedly asceticism, however your protestants and
+      rationalists may twist it to suit their purpose. Asceticism is the denial
+      of the will to live; and the transition from the Old Testament to the New,
+      from the dominion of Law to that of Faith, from justification by works to
+      redemption through the Mediator, from the domain of sin and death to
+      eternal life in Christ, means, when taken in its real sense, the
+      transition from the merely moral virtues to the denial of the will to
+      live. My philosophy shows the metaphysical foundation of justice and the
+      love of mankind, and points to the goal to which these virtues necessarily
+      lead, if they are practised in perfection. At the same time it is candid
+      in confessing that a man must turn his back upon the world, and that the
+      denial of the will to live is the way of redemption. It is therefore
+      really at one with the spirit of the New Testament, whilst all other
+      systems are couched in the spirit of the Old; that is to say,
+      theoretically as well as practically, their result is Judaism&mdash;mere
+      despotic theism. In this sense, then, my doctrine might be called the only
+      true Christian philosophy&mdash;however paradoxical a statement this may
+      seem to people who take superficial views instead of penetrating to the
+      heart of the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. Romans vii; Galatians
+      ii, iii.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you want a safe compass to guide you through life, and to banish all
+      doubt as to the right way of looking at it, you cannot do better than
+      accustom yourself to regard this world as a penitentiary, a sort of a
+      penal colony, or [Greek: ergastaerion] as the earliest philosopher called
+      it.<a href="#linknote-7" name="linknoteref-7" id="linknoteref-7">7</a>
+      Amongst the Christian Fathers, Origen, with praiseworthy courage, took
+      this view,<a href="#linknote-8" name="linknoteref-8" id="linknoteref-8">8</a>
+      which is further justified by certain objective theories of life. I refer,
+      not to my own philosophy alone, but to the wisdom of all ages, as
+      expressed in Brahmanism and Buddhism, and in the sayings of Greek
+      philosophers like Empedocles and Pythagoras; as also by Cicero, in his
+      remark that the wise men of old used to teach that we come into this world
+      to pay the penalty of crime committed in another state of existence&mdash;a
+      doctrine which formed part of the initiation into the mysteries.<a
+      href="#linknote-9" name="linknoteref-9" id="linknoteref-9">9</a> And
+      Vanini&mdash;whom his contemporaries burned, finding that an easier task
+      than to confute him&mdash;puts the same thing in a very forcible way. <i>Man</i>,
+      he says, <i>is so full of every kind of misery that, were it not repugnant
+      to the Christian religion, I should venture to affirm that if evil spirits
+      exist at all, they have posed into human form and are now atoning for
+      their crimes</i>.<a href="#linknote-10" name="linknoteref-10"
+      id="linknoteref-10">10</a> And true Christianity&mdash;using the word in
+      its right sense&mdash;also regards our existence as the consequence of sin
+      and error.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-7" id="linknote-7"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      7 (<a href="#linknoteref-7">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. L.
+      iii, c, 3, p. 399.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-8" id="linknote-8"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      8 (<a href="#linknoteref-8">return</a>)<br /> [ Augustine <i>de cìvitate
+      Dei</i>., L. xi. c. 23.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-9" id="linknote-9"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      9 (<a href="#linknoteref-9">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. <i>Fragmenta de
+      philosophia</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-10" id="linknote-10"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      10 (<a href="#linknoteref-10">return</a>)<br /> [<i>De admirandis naturae
+      arcanis</i>; dial L. p. 35.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you accustom yourself to this view of life you will regulate your
+      expectations accordingly, and cease to look upon all its disagreeable
+      incidents, great and small, its sufferings, its worries, its misery, as
+      anything unusual or irregular; nay, you will find that everything is as it
+      should be, in a world where each of us pays the penalty of existence in
+      his own peculiar way. Amongst the evils of a penal colony is the society
+      of those who form it; and if the reader is worthy of better company, he
+      will need no words from me to remind him of what he has to put up with at
+      present. If he has a soul above the common, or if he is a man of genius,
+      he will occasionally feel like some noble prisoner of state, condemned to
+      work in the galleys with common criminals; and he will follow his example
+      and try to isolate himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In general, however, it should be said that this view of life will enable
+      us to contemplate the so-called imperfections of the great majority of
+      men, their moral and intellectual deficiencies and the resulting base type
+      of countenance, without any surprise, to say nothing of indignation; for
+      we shall never cease to reflect where we are, and that the men about us
+      are beings conceived and born in sin, and living to atone for it. That is
+      what Christianity means in speaking of the sinful nature of man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Pardon's the word to all</i>! <a href="#linknote-11"
+      name="linknoteref-11" id="linknoteref-11">11</a> Whatever folly men
+      commit, be their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us
+      exercise forbearance; remembering that when these faults appear in others,
+      it is our follies and vices that we behold. They are the shortcomings of
+      humanity, to which we belong; whose faults, one and all, we share; yes,
+      even those very faults at which we now wax so indignant, merely because
+      they have not yet appeared in ourselves. They are faults that do not lie
+      on the surface. But they exist down there in the depths of our nature; and
+      should anything call them forth, they will come and show themselves, just
+      as we now see them in others. One man, it is true, may have faults that
+      are absent in his fellow; and it is undeniable that the sum total of bad
+      qualities is in some cases very large; for the difference of individuality
+      between man and man passes all measure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-11" id="linknote-11"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      11 (<a href="#linknoteref-11">return</a>)<br /> [ "Cymbeline," Act v. Sc.
+      5.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, the conviction that the world and man is something that had
+      better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards one
+      another. Nay, from this point of view, we might well consider the proper
+      form of address to be, not <i>Monsieur, Sir, mein Herr</i>, but <i>my
+      fellow-sufferer, Socî malorum, compagnon de miseres</i>! This may perhaps
+      sound strange, but it is in keeping with the facts; it puts others in a
+      right light; and it reminds us of that which is after all the most
+      necessary thing in life&mdash;the tolerance, patience, regard, and love of
+      neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore, every
+      man owes to his fellow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This vanity finds expression in the whole way in which things exist; in
+      the infinite nature of Time and Space, as opposed to the finite nature of
+      the individual in both; in the ever-passing present moment as the only
+      mode of actual existence; in the interdependence and relativity of all
+      things; in continual Becoming without ever Being; in constant wishing and
+      never being satisfied; in the long battle which forms the history of life,
+      where every effort is checked by difficulties, and stopped until they are
+      overcome. Time is that in which all things pass away; it is merely the
+      form under which the will to live&mdash;the thing-in-itself and therefore
+      imperishable&mdash;has revealed to it that its efforts are in vain; it is
+      that agent by which at every moment all things in our hands become as
+      nothing, and lose any real value they possess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That which <i>has been</i> exists no more; it exists as little as that
+      which has <i>never</i> been. But of everything that exists you must say,
+      in the next moment, that it has been. Hence something of great importance
+      now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in
+      that the latter is a <i>reality</i>, and related to the former as
+      something to nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing, after
+      thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for a little
+      while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he must exist no
+      more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that it cannot be true. The
+      crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a subject without having a
+      presentiment that Time is something ideal in its nature. This ideality of
+      Time and Space is the key to every true system of metaphysics; because it
+      provides for quite another order of things than is to be met with in the
+      domain of nature. This is why Kant is so great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of every event in our life we can say only for one moment that it <i>is</i>;
+      for ever after, that it <i>was</i>. Every evening we are poorer by a day.
+      It might, perhaps, make us mad to see how rapidly our short span of time
+      ebbs away; if it were not that in the furthest depths of our being we are
+      secretly conscious of our share in the exhaustible spring of eternity, so
+      that we can always hope to find life in it again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Consideration of the kind, touched on above, might, indeed, lead us to
+      embrace the belief that the greatest <i>wisdom</i> is to make the
+      enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the
+      only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other
+      hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest <i>folly</i>:
+      for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly,
+      like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole foundation on which our existence rests is the present&mdash;the
+      ever-fleeting present. It lies, then, in the very nature of our existence
+      to take the form of constant motion, and to offer no possibility of our
+      ever attaining the rest for which we are always striving. We are like a
+      man running downhill, who cannot keep on his legs unless he runs on, and
+      will inevitably fall if he stops; or, again, like a pole balanced on the
+      tip of one's finger; or like a planet, which would fall into its sun the
+      moment it ceased to hurry forward on its way. Unrest is the mark of
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a world where all is unstable, and nought can endure, but is swept
+      onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change; where a man, if he is
+      to keep erect at all, must always be advancing and moving, like an acrobat
+      on a rope&mdash;in such a world, happiness in inconceivable. How can it
+      dwell where, as Plato says, <i>continual Becoming and never Being</i> is
+      the sole form of existence? In the first place, a man never is happy, but
+      spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will
+      make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he does, it is only to
+      be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the end, and comes into
+      harbor with masts and rigging gone. And then, it is all one whether he has
+      been happy or miserable; for his life was never anything more than a
+      present moment always vanishing; and now it is over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same time it is a wonderful thing that, in the world of human
+      beings as in that of animals in general, this manifold restless motion is
+      produced and kept up by the agency of two simple impulses&mdash;hunger and
+      the sexual instinct; aided a little, perhaps, by the influence of boredom,
+      but by nothing else; and that, in the theatre of life, these suffice to
+      form the <i>primum mobile</i> of how complicated a machinery, setting in
+      motion how strange and varied a scene!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On looking a little closer, we find that inorganic matter presents a
+      constant conflict between chemical forces, which eventually works
+      dissolution; and on the other hand, that organic life is impossible
+      without continual change of matter, and cannot exist if it does not
+      receive perpetual help from without. This is the realm of <i>finality</i>;
+      and its opposite would be <i>an infinite existence</i>, exposed to no
+      attack from without, and needing nothing to support it; [Greek: haei
+      hosautos dn], the realm of eternal peace; [Greek: oute giguomenon oute
+      apollumenon], some timeless, changeless state, one and undiversified; the
+      negative knowledge of which forms the dominant note of the Platonic
+      philosophy. It is to some such state as this that the denial of the will
+      to live opens up the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scenes of our life are like pictures done in rough mosaic. Looked at
+      close, they produce no effect. There is nothing beautiful to be found in
+      them, unless you stand some distance off. So, to gain anything we have
+      longed for is only to discover how vain and empty it is; and even though
+      we are always living in expectation of better things, at the same time we
+      often repent and long to have the past back again. We look upon the
+      present as something to be put up with while it lasts, and serving only as
+      the way towards our goal. Hence most people, if they glance back when they
+      come to the end of life, will find that all along they have been living <i>ad
+      interim</i>: they will be surprised to find that the very thing they
+      disregarded and let slip by unenjoyed, was just the life in the
+      expectation of which they passed all their time. Of how many a man may it
+      not be said that hope made a fool of him until he danced into the arms of
+      death!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then again, how insatiable a creature is man! Every satisfaction he
+      attains lays the seeds of some new desire, so that there is no end to the
+      wishes of each individual will. And why is this? The real reason is simply
+      that, taken in itself, Will is the lord of all worlds: everything belongs
+      to it, and therefore no one single thing can ever give it satisfaction,
+      but only the whole, which is endless. For all that, it must rouse our
+      sympathy to think how very little the Will, this lord of the world, really
+      gets when it takes the form of an individual; usually only just enough to
+      keep the body together. This is why man is so very miserable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Life presents itself chiefly as a task&mdash;the task, I mean, of
+      subsisting at all, <i>gagner sa vie</i>. If this is accomplished, life is
+      a burden, and then there comes the second task of doing something with
+      that which has been won&mdash;of warding off boredom, which, like a bird
+      of prey, hovers over us, ready to fall wherever it sees a life secure from
+      need. The first task is to win something; the second, to banish the
+      feeling that it has been won; otherwise it is a burden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Human life must be some kind of mistake. The truth of this will be
+      sufficiently obvious if we only remember that man is a compound of needs
+      and necessities hard to satisfy; and that even when they are satisfied,
+      all he obtains is a state of painlessness, where nothing remains to him
+      but abandonment to boredom. This is direct proof that existence has no
+      real value in itself; for what is boredom but the feeling of the emptiness
+      of life? If life&mdash;the craving for which is the very essence of our
+      being&mdash;were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be
+      no such thing as boredom at all: mere existence would satisfy us in
+      itself, and we should want for nothing. But as it is, we take no delight
+      in existence except when we are struggling for something; and then
+      distance and difficulties to be overcome make our goal look as though it
+      would satisfy us&mdash;an illusion which vanishes when we reach it; or
+      else when we are occupied with some purely intellectual interest&mdash;when
+      in reality we have stepped forth from life to look upon it from the
+      outside, much after the manner of spectators at a play. And even sensual
+      pleasure itself means nothing but a struggle and aspiration, ceasing the
+      moment its aim is attained. Whenever we are not occupied in one of these
+      ways, but cast upon existence itself, its vain and worthless nature is
+      brought home to us; and this is what we mean by boredom. The hankering
+      after what is strange and uncommon&mdash;an innate and ineradicable
+      tendency of human nature&mdash;shows how glad we are at any interruption
+      of that natural course of affairs which is so very tedious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That this most perfect manifestation of the will to live, the human
+      organism, with the cunning and complex working of its machinery, must fall
+      to dust and yield up itself and all its strivings to extinction&mdash;this
+      is the naïve way in which Nature, who is always so true and sincere in
+      what she says, proclaims the whole struggle of this will as in its very
+      essence barren and unprofitable. Were it of any value in itself, anything
+      unconditioned and absolute, it could not thus end in mere nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we turn from contemplating the world as a whole, and, in particular,
+      the generations of men as they live their little hour of mock-existence
+      and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn from this, and
+      look at life in its small details, as presented, say, in a comedy, how
+      ridiculous it all seems! It is like a drop of water seen through a
+      microscope, a single drop teeming with <i>infusoria</i>; or a speck of
+      cheese full of mites invisible to the naked eye. How we laugh as they
+      bustle about so eagerly, and struggle with one another in so tiny a space!
+      And whether here, or in the little span of human life, this terrible
+      activity produces a comic effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. It is an
+      indivisible point, drawn out and magnified by the powerful lenses of Time
+      and Space.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON SUICIDE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      As far as I know, none but the votaries of monotheistic, that is to say,
+      Jewish religions, look upon suicide as a crime. This is all the more
+      striking, inasmuch as neither in the Old nor in the New Testament is there
+      to be found any prohibition or positive disapproval of it; so that
+      religious teachers are forced to base their condemnation of suicide on
+      philosophical grounds of their own invention. These are so very bad that
+      writers of this kind endeavor to make up for the weakness of their
+      arguments by the strong terms in which they express their abhorrence of
+      the practice; in other words, they declaim against it. They tell us that
+      suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice; that only a madman could be
+      guilty of it; and other insipidities of the same kind; or else they make
+      the nonsensical remark that suicide is <i>wrong</i>; when it is quite
+      obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more
+      unassailable title than to his own life and person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suicide, as I have said, is actually accounted a crime; and a crime which,
+      especially under the vulgar bigotry that prevails in England, is followed
+      by an ignominious burial and the seizure of the man's property; and for
+      that reason, in a case of suicide, the jury almost always brings in a
+      verdict of insanity. Now let the reader's own moral feelings decide as to
+      whether or not suicide is a criminal act. Think of the impression that
+      would be made upon you by the news that some one you know had committed
+      the crime, say, of murder or theft, or been guilty of some act of cruelty
+      or deception; and compare it with your feelings when you hear that he has
+      met a voluntary death. While in the one case a lively sense of indignation
+      and extreme resentment will be aroused, and you will call loudly for
+      punishment or revenge, in the other you will be moved to grief and
+      sympathy; and mingled with your thoughts will be admiration for his
+      courage, rather than the moral disapproval which follows upon a wicked
+      action. Who has not had acquaintances, friends, relations, who of their
+      own free will have left this world; and are these to be thought of with
+      horror as criminals? Most emphatically, No! I am rather of opinion that
+      the clergy should be challenged to explain what right they have to go into
+      the pulpit, or take up their pens, and stamp as a crime an action which
+      many men whom we hold in affection and honor have committed; and to refuse
+      an honorable burial to those who relinquish this world voluntarily. They
+      have no Biblical authority to boast of, as justifying their condemnation
+      of suicide; nay, not even any philosophical arguments that will hold
+      water; and it must be understood that it is arguments we want, and that we
+      will not be put off with mere phrases or words of abuse. If the criminal
+      law forbids suicide, that is not an argument valid in the Church; and
+      besides, the prohibition is ridiculous; for what penalty can frighten a
+      man who is not afraid of death itself? If the law punishes people for
+      trying to commit suicide, it is punishing the want of skill that makes the
+      attempt a failure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancients, moreover, were very far from regarding the matter in that
+      light. Pliny says: <i>Life is not so desirable a thing as to be protracted
+      at any cost. Whoever you are, you are sure to die, even though your life
+      has been full of abomination and crime. The chief of all remedies for a
+      troubled mind is the feeling that among the blessings which Nature gives
+      to man, there is none greater than an opportune death; and the best of it
+      is that every one can avail himself of it.<a href="#linknote-12"
+      name="linknoteref-12" id="linknoteref-12">12</a></i> And elsewhere the
+      same writer declares: <i>Not even to God are all things possible; for he
+      could not compass his own death, if he willed to die, and yet in all the
+      miseries of our earthly life, this is the best of his gifts to man.<a
+      href="#linknote-13" name="linknoteref-13" id="linknoteref-13">13</a></i>
+      Nay, in Massilia and on the isle of Ceos, the man who could give valid
+      reasons for relinquishing his life, was handed the cup of hemlock by the
+      magistrate; and that, too, in public.<a href="#linknote-14"
+      name="linknoteref-14" id="linknoteref-14">14</a> And in ancient times, how
+      many heroes and wise men died a voluntary death. Aristotle,<a
+      href="#linknote-15" name="linknoteref-15" id="linknoteref-15">15</a> it is
+      true, declared suicide to be an offence against the State, although not
+      against the person; but in Stobaeus' exposition of the Peripatetic
+      philosophy there is the following remark: <i>The good man should flee life
+      when his misfortunes become too great; the bad man, also, when he is too
+      prosperous</i>. And similarly: <i>So he will marry and beget children and
+      take part in the affairs of the State, and, generally, practice virtue and
+      continue to live; and then, again, if need be, and at any time necessity
+      compels him, he will depart to his place of refuge in the tomb.<a
+      href="#linknote-16" name="linknoteref-16" id="linknoteref-16">16</a></i>
+      And we find that the Stoics actually praised suicide as a noble and heroic
+      action, as hundreds of passages show; above all in the works of Seneca,
+      who expresses the strongest approval of it. As is well known, the Hindoos
+      look upon suicide as a religious act, especially when it takes the form of
+      self-immolation by widows; but also when it consists in casting oneself
+      under the wheels of the chariot of the god at Juggernaut, or being eaten
+      by crocodiles in the Ganges, or being drowned in the holy tanks in the
+      temples, and so on. The same thing occurs on the stage&mdash;that mirror
+      of life. For example, in <i>L'Orphelin de la Chine</i><a
+      href="#linknote-17" name="linknoteref-17" id="linknoteref-17">17</a> a
+      celebrated Chinese play, almost all the noble characters end by suicide;
+      without the slightest hint anywhere, or any impression being produced on
+      the spectator, that they are committing a crime. And in our own theatre it
+      is much the same&mdash;Palmira, for instance, in <i>Mahomet</i>, or
+      Mortimer in <i>Maria Stuart</i>, Othello, Countess Terzky.<a
+      href="#linknote-18" name="linknoteref-18" id="linknoteref-18">18</a> Is
+      Hamlet's monologue the meditation of a criminal? He merely declares that
+      if we had any certainty of being annihilated by it, death would be
+      infinitely preferable to the world as it is. But <i>there lies the rub</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-12" id="linknote-12"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      12 (<a href="#linknoteref-12">return</a>)<br /> [ Hist. Nat. Lib. xxviii.,
+      1.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-13" id="linknote-13"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      13 (<a href="#linknoteref-13">return</a>)<br /> [ Loc. cit. Lib. ii. c. 7.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-14" id="linknote-14"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      14 (<a href="#linknoteref-14">return</a>)<br /> [ 3 Valerius Maximus; hist.
+      Lib. ii., c. 6, § 7 et 8. Heraclides Ponticus; fragmenta de rebus
+      publicis, ix. Aeliani variae historiae, iii., 37. Strabo; Lib. x., c. 5,
+      6.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-15" id="linknote-15"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      15 (<a href="#linknoteref-15">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Eth. Nichom</i>., v.
+      15.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-16" id="linknote-16"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      16 (<a href="#linknoteref-16">return</a>)<br /> [ Stobaeus. <i>Ecl. Eth</i>..
+      ii., c. 7, pp. 286, 312]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-17" id="linknote-17"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      17 (<a href="#linknoteref-17">return</a>)<br /> [ Traduit par St. Julien,
+      1834.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-18" id="linknote-18"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      18 (<a href="#linknoteref-18">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;Palmira:
+      a female slave in Goethe's play of <i>Mahomet</i>. Mortimer: a would-be
+      lover and rescuer of Mary in Schiller's <i>Maria Stuart</i>. Countess
+      Terzky: a leading character in Schiller's <i>Wallenstein's Tod</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reasons advanced against suicide by the clergy of monotheistic, that
+      is to say, Jewish religions, and by those philosophers who adapt
+      themselves thereto, are weak sophisms which can easily be refuted.<a
+      href="#linknote-19" name="linknoteref-19" id="linknoteref-19">19</a> The
+      most thorough-going refutation of them is given by Hume in his <i>Essay on
+      Suicide</i>. This did not appear until after his death, when it was
+      immediately suppressed, owing to the scandalous bigotry and outrageous
+      ecclesiastical tyranny that prevailed in England; and hence only a very
+      few copies of it were sold under cover of secrecy and at a high price.
+      This and another treatise by that great man have come to us from Basle,
+      and we may be thankful for the reprint.<a href="#linknote-20"
+      name="linknoteref-20" id="linknoteref-20">20</a> It is a great disgrace to
+      the English nation that a purely philosophical treatise, which, proceeding
+      from one of the first thinkers and writers in England, aimed at refuting
+      the current arguments against suicide by the light of cold reason, should
+      be forced to sneak about in that country, as though it were some rascally
+      production, until at last it found refuge on the Continent. At the same
+      time it shows what a good conscience the Church has in such matters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-19" id="linknote-19"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      19 (<a href="#linknoteref-19">return</a>)<br /> [ See my treatise on the <i>Foundation
+      of Morals</i>, § 5.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-20" id="linknote-20"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      20 (<a href="#linknoteref-20">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Essays on Suicide</i>
+      and the <i>Immortality of the Soul</i>, by the late David Hume, Basle,
+      1799, sold by James Decker.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In my chief work I have explained the only valid reason existing against
+      suicide on the score of mortality. It is this: that suicide thwarts the
+      attainment of the highest moral aim by the fact that, for a real release
+      from this world of misery, it substitutes one that is merely apparent. But
+      from a <i>mistake</i> to a <i>crime</i> is a far cry; and it is as a crime
+      that the clergy of Christendom wish us to regard suicide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inmost kernel of Christianity is the truth that suffering&mdash;<i>the
+      Cross</i>&mdash;is the real end and object of life. Hence Christianity
+      condemns suicide as thwarting this end; whilst the ancient world, taking a
+      lower point of view, held it in approval, nay, in honor.<a
+      href="#linknote-21" name="linknoteref-21" id="linknoteref-21">21</a> But
+      if that is to be accounted a valid reason against suicide, it involves the
+      recognition of asceticism; that is to say, it is valid only from a much
+      higher ethical standpoint than has ever been adopted by moral philosophers
+      in Europe. If we abandon that high standpoint, there is no tenable reason
+      left, on the score of morality, for condemning suicide. The extraordinary
+      energy and zeal with which the clergy of monotheistic religions attack
+      suicide is not supported either by any passages in the Bible or by any
+      considerations of weight; so that it looks as though they must have some
+      secret reason for their contention. May it not be this&mdash;that the
+      voluntary surrender of life is a bad compliment for him who said that <i>all
+      things were very good</i>? If this is so, it offers another instance of
+      the crass optimism of these religions,&mdash;denouncing suicide to escape
+      being denounced by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-21" id="linknote-21"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      21 (<a href="#linknoteref-21">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;Schopenhauer
+      refers to <i>Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung</i>, vol. i., § 69, where
+      the reader may find the same argument stated at somewhat greater length.
+      According to Schopenhauer, moral freedom&mdash;the highest ethical aim&mdash;is
+      to be obtained only by a denial of the will to live. Far from being a
+      denial, suicide is an emphatic assertion of this will. For it is in
+      fleeing from the pleasures, not from the sufferings of life, that this
+      denial consists. When a man destroys his existence as an individual, he is
+      not by any means destroying his will to live. On the contrary, he would
+      like to live if he could do so with satisfaction to himself; if he could
+      assert his will against the power of circumstance; but circumstance is too
+      strong for him.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will generally be found that, as soon as the terrors of life reach the
+      point at which they outweigh the terrors of death, a man will put an end
+      to his life. But the terrors of death offer considerable resistance; they
+      stand like a sentinel at the gate leading out of this world. Perhaps there
+      is no man alive who would not have already put an end to his life, if this
+      end had been of a purely negative character, a sudden stoppage of
+      existence. There is something positive about it; it is the destruction of
+      the body; and a man shrinks from that, because his body is the
+      manifestation of the will to live.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the struggle with that sentinel is, as a rule, not so hard as it
+      may seem from a long way off, mainly in consequence of the antagonism
+      between the ills of the body and the ills of the mind. If we are in great
+      bodily pain, or the pain lasts a long time, we become indifferent to other
+      troubles; all we think about is to get well. In the same way great mental
+      suffering makes us insensible to bodily pain; we despise it; nay, if it
+      should outweigh the other, it distracts our thoughts, and we welcome it as
+      a pause in mental suffering. It is this feeling that makes suicide easy;
+      for the bodily pain that accompanies it loses all significance in the eyes
+      of one who is tortured by an excess of mental suffering. This is
+      especially evident in the case of those who are driven to suicide by some
+      purely morbid and exaggerated ill-humor. No special effort to overcome
+      their feelings is necessary, nor do such people require to be worked up in
+      order to take the step; but as soon as the keeper into whose charge they
+      are given leaves them for a couple of minutes, they quickly bring their
+      life to an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When, in some dreadful and ghastly dream, we reach the moment of greatest
+      horror, it awakes us; thereby banishing all the hideous shapes that were
+      born of the night. And life is a dream: when the moment of greatest horror
+      compels us to break it off, the same thing happens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment&mdash;a question which man
+      puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is this:
+      What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight
+      into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it
+      involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question
+      and awaits the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IMMORTALITY:<a href="#linknote-22" name="linknoteref-22"
+      id="linknoteref-22">22</a> A DIALOGUE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-22" id="linknote-22"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      22 (<a href="#linknoteref-22">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;The
+      word immortality&mdash;<i>Unsterblichkeit</i>&mdash;does not occur in the
+      original; nor would it, in its usual application, find a place in
+      Schopenhauer's vocabulary. The word he uses is <i>Unzerstörbarkeit&mdash;indestructibility</i>.
+      But I have preferred <i>immortality</i>, because that word is commonly
+      associated with the subject touched upon in this little debate. If any
+      critic doubts the wisdom of this preference, let me ask him to try his
+      hand at a short, concise, and, at the same time, popularly intelligible
+      rendering of the German original, which runs thus: <i>Zur Lehre von der
+      Unzerstörbarkeit unseres wahren Wesens durch den Tod: Meine dialogische
+      Schlussbelustigung</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      THRASYMACHOS&mdash;PHILALETHES.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Tell me now, in one word, what shall I be after my
+      death? And mind you be clear and precise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. All and nothing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. I thought so! I gave you a problem, and you solve it
+      by a contradiction. That's a very stale trick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Yes, but you raise transcendental questions, and you
+      expect me to answer them in language that is only made for immanent
+      knowledge. It's no wonder that a contradiction ensues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. What do you mean by transcendental questions and
+      immanent knowledge? I've heard these expressions before, of course; they
+      are not new to me. The Professor was fond of using them, but only as
+      predicates of the Deity, and he never talked of anything else; which was
+      all quite right and proper. He argued thus: if the Deity was in the world
+      itself, he was immanent; if he was somewhere outside it, he was
+      transcendent. Nothing could be clearer and more obvious! You knew where
+      you were. But this Kantian rigmarole won't do any more: it's antiquated
+      and no longer applicable to modern ideas. Why, we've had a whole row of
+      eminent men in the metropolis of German learning&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. (Aside.) German humbug, he means.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. The mighty Schleiermacher, for instance, and that
+      gigantic intellect, Hegel; and at this time of day we've abandoned that
+      nonsense. I should rather say we're so far beyond it that we can't put up
+      with it any more. What's the use of it then? What does it all mean?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge which passes
+      beyond the bounds of possible experience, and strives to determine the
+      nature of things as they are in themselves. Immanent knowledge, on the
+      other hand, is knowledge which confines itself entirely with those bounds;
+      so that it cannot apply to anything but actual phenomena. As far as you
+      are an individual, death will be the end of you. But your individuality is
+      not your true and inmost being: it is only the outward manifestation of
+      it. It is not the <i>thing-in-itself</i>, but only the phenomenon
+      presented in the form of time; and therefore with a beginning and an end.
+      But your real being knows neither time, nor beginning, nor end, nor yet
+      the limits of any given individual. It is everywhere present in every
+      individual; and no individual can exist apart from it. So when death
+      comes, on the one hand you are annihilated as an individual; on the other,
+      you are and remain everything. That is what I meant when I said that after
+      your death you would be all and nothing. It is difficult to find a more
+      precise answer to your question and at the same time be brief. The answer
+      is contradictory, I admit; but it is so simply because your life is in
+      time, and the immortal part of you in eternity. You may put the matter
+      thus: Your immortal part is something that does not last in time and yet
+      is indestructible; but there you have another contradiction! You see what
+      happens by trying to bring the transcendental within the limits of
+      immanent knowledge. It is in some sort doing violence to the latter by
+      misusing it for ends it was never meant to serve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Look here, I shan't give twopence for your
+      immortality unless I'm to remain an individual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Well, perhaps I may be able to satisfy you on this
+      point. Suppose I guarantee that after death you shall remain an
+      individual, but only on condition that you first spend three months of
+      complete unconsciousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. I shall have no objection to that.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. But remember, if people are completely unconscious,
+      they take no account of time. So, when you are dead, it's all the same to
+      you whether three months pass in the world of consciousness, or ten
+      thousand years. In the one case as in the other, it is simply a matter of
+      believing what is told you when you awake. So far, then, you can afford to
+      be indifferent whether it is three months or ten thousand years that pass
+      before you recover your individuality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Yes, if it comes to that, I suppose you're right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. And if by chance, after those ten thousand years have
+      gone by, no one ever thinks of awakening you, I fancy it would be no great
+      misfortune. You would have become quite accustomed to non-existence after
+      so long a spell of it&mdash;following upon such a very few years of life.
+      At any rate you may be sure you would be perfectly ignorant of the whole
+      thing. Further, if you knew that the mysterious power which keeps you in
+      your present state of life had never once ceased in those ten thousand
+      years to bring forth other phenomena like yourself, and to endow them with
+      life, it would fully console you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Indeed! So you think you're quietly going to do me
+      out of my individuality with all this fine talk. But I'm up to your
+      tricks. I tell you I won't exist unless I can have my individuality. I'm
+      not going to be put off with 'mysterious powers,' and what you call
+      'phenomena.' I can't do without my individuality, and I won't give it up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. You mean, I suppose, that your individuality is such a
+      delightful thing, so splendid, so perfect, and beyond compare&mdash;that
+      you can't imagine anything better. Aren't you ready to exchange your
+      present state for one which, if we can judge by what is told us, may
+      possibly be superior and more endurable?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. Don't you see that my individuality, be it what it
+      may, is my very self? To me it is the most important thing in the world.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>For God is God and I am I</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <i>I</i> want to exist, <i>I, I</i>. That's the main thing. I don't care
+      about an existence which has to be proved to be mine, before I can believe
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Philalethes</i>. Think what you're doing! When you say <i>I, I, I</i>
+      want to exist, it is not you alone that says this. Everything says it,
+      absolutely everything that has the faintest trace of consciousness. It
+      follows, then, that this desire of yours is just the part of you that is
+      <i>not individual</i>&mdash;the part that is common to all things without
+      distinction. It is the cry, not of the individual, but of existence
+      itself; it is the intrinsic element in everything that exists, nay, it is
+      the cause of anything existing at all. This desire craves for, and so is
+      satisfied with, nothing less than existence in general&mdash;not any
+      definite individual existence. No! that is not its aim. It seems to be so
+      only because this desire&mdash;this <i>Will</i>&mdash;attains
+      consciousness only in the individual, and therefore looks as though it
+      were concerned with nothing but the individual. There lies the illusion&mdash;an
+      illusion, it is true, in which the individual is held fast: but, if he
+      reflects, he can break the fetters and set himself free. It is only
+      indirectly, I say, that the individual has this violent craving for
+      existence. It is <i>the Will to Live</i> which is the real and direct
+      aspirant&mdash;alike and identical in all things. Since, then, existence
+      is the free work, nay, the mere reflection of the will, where existence
+      is, there, too, must be will; and for the moment the will finds its
+      satisfaction in existence itself; so far, I mean, as that which never
+      rests, but presses forward eternally, can ever find any satisfaction at
+      all. The will is careless of the individual: the individual is not its
+      business; although, as I have said, this seems to be the case, because the
+      individual has no direct consciousness of will except in himself. The
+      effect of this is to make the individual careful to maintain his own
+      existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety for the
+      preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that individuality
+      is not a form of perfection, but rather of limitation; and so to be freed
+      from it is not loss but gain. Trouble yourself no more about the matter.
+      Once thoroughly recognize what you are, what your existence really is,
+      namely, the universal will to live, and the whole question will seem to
+      you childish, and most ridiculous!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Thrasymachos</i>. You're childish yourself and most ridiculous, like
+      all philosophers! and if a man of my age lets himself in for a
+      quarter-of-an-hour's talk with such fools, it is only because it amuses me
+      and passes the time. I've more important business to attend to, so
+      Good-bye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      FURTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There is an unconscious propriety in the way in which, in all European
+      languages, the word <i>person</i> is commonly used to denote a human
+      being. The real meaning of <i>persona</i> is <i>a mask</i>, such as actors
+      were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no
+      one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed,
+      the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy;
+      and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid,
+      while a blockhead is quite at home in it.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing us the consequence
+      and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell us what the
+      future will be? This is precisely why reason is such an excellent power of
+      restraint in moments when we are possessed by some base passion, some fit
+      of anger, some covetous desire, that will lead us to do things whereof we
+      must presently repent.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <i>Hatred</i> comes from the heart; <i>contempt</i> from the head; and
+      neither feeling is quite within our control. For we cannot alter our
+      heart; its basis is determined by motives; and our head deals with
+      objective facts, and applies to them rules which are immutable. Any given
+      individual is the union of a particular heart with a particular head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hatred and contempt are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.
+      There are even not a few cases where hatred of a person is rooted in
+      nothing but forced esteem for his qualities. And besides, if a man sets
+      out to hate all the miserable creatures he meets, he will not have much
+      energy left for anything else; whereas he can despise them, one and all,
+      with the greatest ease. True, genuine contempt is just the reverse of
+      true, genuine pride; it keeps quite quiet and gives no sign of its
+      existence. For if a man shows that he despises you, he signifies at least
+      this much regard for you, that he wants to let you know how little he
+      appreciates you; and his wish is dictated by hatred, which cannot exist
+      with real contempt. On the contrary, if it is genuine, it is simply the
+      conviction that the object of it is a man of no value at all. Contempt is
+      not incompatible with indulgent and kindly treatment, and for the sake of
+      one's own peace and safety, this should not be omitted; it will prevent
+      irritation; and there is no one who cannot do harm if he is roused to it.
+      But if this pure, cold, sincere contempt ever shows itself, it will be met
+      with the most truculent hatred; for the despised person is not in a
+      position to fight contempt with its own weapons.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Melancholy is a very different thing from bad humor, and of the two, it is
+      not nearly so far removed from a gay and happy temperament. Melancholy
+      attracts, while bad humor repels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hypochondria is a species of torment which not only makes us unreasonably
+      cross with the things of the present; not only fills us with groundless
+      anxiety on the score of future misfortunes entirely of our own
+      manufacture; but also leads to unmerited self-reproach for what we have
+      done in the past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hypochondria shows itself in a perpetual hunting after things that vex and
+      annoy, and then brooding over them. The cause of it is an inward morbid
+      discontent, often co-existing with a naturally restless temperament. In
+      their extreme form, this discontent and this unrest lead to suicide.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Any incident, however trivial, that rouses disagreeable emotion, leaves an
+      after-effect in our mind, which for the time it lasts, prevents our taking
+      a clear objective view of the things about us, and tinges all our
+      thoughts: just as a small object held close to the eye limits and distorts
+      our field of vision.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      What makes people <i>hard-hearted</i> is this, that each man has, or
+      fancies he has, as much as he can bear in his own troubles. Hence, if a
+      man suddenly finds himself in an unusually happy position, it will in most
+      cases result in his being sympathetic and kind. But if he has never been
+      in any other than a happy position, or this becomes his permanent state,
+      the effect of it is often just the contrary: it so far removes him from
+      suffering that he is incapable of feeling any more sympathy with it. So it
+      is that the poor often show themselves more ready to help than the rich.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      At times it seems as though we both wanted and did not want the same
+      thing, and felt at once glad and sorry about it. For instance, if on some
+      fixed date we are going to be put to a decisive test about anything in
+      which it would be a great advantage to us to come off victorious, we shall
+      be anxious for it to take place at once, and at the same time we shall
+      tremble at the thought of its approach. And if, in the meantime, we hear
+      that, for once in a way, the date has been postponed, we shall experience
+      a feeling both of pleasure and of annoyance; for the news is
+      disappointing, but nevertheless it affords us momentary relief. It is just
+      the same thing if we are expecting some important letter carrying a
+      definite decision, and it fails to arrive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In such cases there are really two different motives at work in us; the
+      stronger but more distant of the two being the desire to stand the test
+      and to have the decision given in our favor; and the weaker, which touches
+      us more nearly, the wish to be left for the present in peace and quiet,
+      and accordingly in further enjoyment of the advantage which at any rate
+      attaches to a state of hopeful uncertainty, compared with the possibility
+      that the issue may be unfavorable.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      In my head there is a permanent opposition-party; and whenever I take any
+      step or come to any decision&mdash;though I may have given the matter
+      mature consideration&mdash;it afterwards attacks what I have done,
+      without, however, being each time necessarily in the right. This is, I
+      suppose, only a form of rectification on the part of the spirit of
+      scrutiny; but it often reproaches me when I do not deserve it. The same
+      thing, no doubt, happens to many others as well; for where is the man who
+      can help thinking that, after all, it were better not to have done
+      something that he did with great deliberation:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te
+  Conatus non poeniteat votique peracti</i>?
+
+</pre>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Why is it that <i>common</i> is an expression of contempt? and that <i>uncommon,
+      extraordinary, distinguished</i>, denote approbation? Why is everything
+      that is common contemptible?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Common</i> in its original meaning denotes that which is peculiar to
+      all men, <i>i.e</i>., shared equally by the whole species, and therefore
+      an inherent part of its nature. Accordingly, if an individual possesses no
+      qualities beyond those which attach to mankind in general, he is a <i>common
+      man. Ordinary</i> is a much milder word, and refers rather to intellectual
+      character; whereas <i>common</i> has more of a moral application.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What value can a creature have that is not a whit different from millions
+      of its kind? Millions, do I say? nay, an infiniture of creatures which,
+      century after century, in never-ending flow, Nature sends bubbling up from
+      her inexhaustible springs; as generous with them as the smith with the
+      useless sparks that fly around his anvil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is obviously quite right that a creature which has no qualities except
+      those of the species, should have to confine its claim to an existence
+      entirely within the limits of the species, and live a life conditioned by
+      those limits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In various passages of my works,<a href="#linknote-23"
+      name="linknoteref-23" id="linknoteref-23">23</a> I have argued that whilst
+      a lower animal possesses nothing more than the generic character of its
+      species, man is the only being which can lay claim to possess an
+      individual character. But in most men this individual character comes to
+      very little in reality; and they may be almost all ranged under certain
+      classes: <i>ce sont des espèces</i>. Their thoughts and desires, like
+      their faces, are those of the species, or, at any rate, those of the class
+      to which they belong; and accordingly, they are of a trivial, every-day,
+      common character, and exist by the thousand. You can usually tell
+      beforehand what they are likely to do and say. They have no special stamp
+      or mark to distinguish them; they are like manufactured goods, all of a
+      piece.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-23" id="linknote-23"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      23 (<a href="#linknoteref-23">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Grundprobleme der
+      Ethik</i>, p. 48; <i>Welt als Wille und Vorstellung</i>, vol. i. p. 338.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If, then, their nature is merged in that of the species, how shall their
+      existence go beyond it? The curse of vulgarity puts men on a par with the
+      lower animals, by allowing them none but a generic nature, a generic form
+      of existence. Anything that is high or great or noble, must then, as a
+      mater of course, and by its very nature, stand alone in a world where no
+      better expression can be found to denote what is base and contemptible
+      than that which I have mentioned as in general use, namely, <i>common</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Will, as the <i>thing-in-itself</i>, is the foundation of all being; it is
+      part and parcel of every creature, and the permanent element in
+      everything. Will, then, is that which we possess in common with all men,
+      nay, with all animals, and even with lower forms of existence; and in so
+      far we are akin to everything&mdash;so far, that is, as everything is
+      filled to overflowing with will. On the other hand, that which places one
+      being over another, and sets differences between man and man, is intellect
+      and knowledge; therefore in every manifestation of self we should, as far
+      as possible, give play to the intellect alone; for, as we have seen, the
+      will is the <i>common</i> part of us. Every violent exhibition of will is
+      common and vulgar; in other words, it reduces us to the level of the
+      species, and makes us a mere type and example of it; in that it is just
+      the character of the species that we are showing. So every fit of anger is
+      something <i>common</i>&mdash;every unrestrained display of joy, or of
+      hate, or fear&mdash;in short, every form of emotion; in other words, every
+      movement of the will, if it's so strong as decidedly to outweigh the
+      intellectual element in consciousness, and to make the man appear as a
+      being that <i>wills</i> rather than <i>knows</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In giving way to emotion of this violent kind, the greatest genius puts
+      himself on a level with the commonest son of earth. Contrarily, if a man
+      desires to be absolutely uncommon, in other words, great, he should never
+      allow his consciousness to be taken possession of and dominated by the
+      movement of his will, however much he may be solicited thereto. For
+      example, he must be able to observe that other people are badly disposed
+      towards him, without feeling any hatred towards them himself; nay, there
+      is no surer sign of a great mind than that it refuses to notice annoying
+      and insulting expressions, but straightway ascribes them, as it ascribes
+      countless other mistakes, to the defective knowledge of the speaker, and
+      so merely observes without feeling them. This is the meaning of that
+      remark of Gracian, that nothing is more unworthy of a man than to let it
+      be seen that he is one&mdash;<i>el mayor desdoro de un hombre es dar
+      muestras de que es hombre</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And even in the drama, which is the peculiar province of the passions and
+      emotions, it is easy for them to appear common and vulgar. And this is
+      specially observable in the works of the French tragic writers, who set no
+      other aim before themselves but the delineation of the passions; and by
+      indulging at one moment in a vaporous kind of pathos which makes them
+      ridiculous, at another in epigrammatic witticisms, endeavor to conceal the
+      vulgarity of their subject. I remember seeing the celebrated Mademoiselle
+      Rachel as Maria Stuart: and when she burst out in fury against Elizabeth&mdash;though
+      she did it very well&mdash;I could not help thinking of a washerwoman. She
+      played the final parting in such a way as to deprive it of all true tragic
+      feeling, of which, indeed, the French have no notion at all. The same part
+      was incomparably better played by the Italian Ristori; and, in fact, the
+      Italian nature, though in many respects very different from the German,
+      shares its appreciation for what is deep, serious, and true in Art; herein
+      opposed to the French, which everywhere betrays that it possesses none of
+      this feeling whatever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The noble, in other words, the uncommon, element in the drama&mdash;nay,
+      what is sublime in it&mdash;is not reached until the intellect is set to
+      work, as opposed to the will; until it takes a free flight over all those
+      passionate movements of the will, and makes them subject of its
+      contemplation. Shakespeare, in particular, shows that this is his general
+      method, more especially in Hamlet. And only when intellect rises to the
+      point where the vanity of all effort is manifest, and the will proceeds to
+      an act of self-annulment, is the drama tragic in the true sense of the
+      word; it is then that it reaches its highest aim in becoming really
+      sublime.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of
+      the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that error
+      of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and earth meet.
+      This explains many things, and among them the fact that everyone measures
+      us with his own standard&mdash;generally about as long as a tailor's tape,
+      and we have to put up with it: as also that no one will allow us to be
+      taller than himself&mdash;a supposition which is once for all taken for
+      granted.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      There is no doubt that many a man owes his good fortune in life solely to
+      the circumstance that he has a pleasant way of smiling, and so wins the
+      heart in his favor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the heart would do better to be careful, and to remember what
+      Hamlet put down in his tablets&mdash;<i>that one may smile, and smile, and
+      be a villain</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Everything that is really fundamental in a man, and therefore genuine
+      works, as such, unconsciously; in this respect like the power of nature.
+      That which has passed through the domain of consciousness is thereby
+      transformed into an idea or picture; and so if it comes to be uttered, it
+      is only an idea or picture which passes from one person to another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly, any quality of mind or character that is genuine and lasting,
+      is originally unconscious; and it is only when unconsciously brought into
+      play that it makes a profound impression. If any like quality is
+      consciously exercised, it means that it has been worked up; it becomes
+      intentional, and therefore matter of affectation, in other words, of
+      deception.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if he
+      tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails. This applies to the origin of
+      those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of all genuine
+      work. Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold water; and every
+      man who wants to achieve something, whether in practical life, in
+      literature, or in art, must <i>follow the rules without knowing them</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Men of very great capacity, will as a rule, find the company of very
+      stupid people preferable to that of the common run; for the same reason
+      that the tyrant and the mob, the grandfather and the grandchildren, are
+      natural allies.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      That line of Ovid's,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram</i>,
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      can be applied in its true physical sense to the lower animals alone; but
+      in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly all men
+      as well. All their plans and projects are merged in the desire of physical
+      enjoyment, physical well-being. They may, indeed, have personal interests,
+      often embracing a very varied sphere; but still these latter receive their
+      importance entirely from the relation in which they stand to the former.
+      This is not only proved by their manner of life and the things they say,
+      but it even shows itself in the way they look, the expression of their
+      physiognomy, their gait and gesticulations. Everything about them cries
+      out; <i>in terram prona</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
+      natures&mdash;men who really think and look about them in the world, and
+      form exceptional specimens of humanity&mdash;that the next lines are
+      applicable;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  <i>Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
+  Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus</i>.
+
+</pre>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in himself,
+      until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in a pond of
+      still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of the roar and
+      thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and yet remain what it
+      is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain. When water is as cold as
+      ice, you can have no idea of the latent warmth contained in it.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one really
+      knows what he looks like?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
+      then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, <i>Know
+      thyself</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is
+      physically impossible for a man to see himself in the glass except with
+      face turned straight towards it and perfectly motionless; where the
+      expression of the eye, which counts for so much, and really gives its
+      whole character to the face, is to a great extent lost. But co-existing
+      with this physical impossibility, there seems to me to be an ethical
+      impossibility of an analogous nature, and producing the same effect. A man
+      cannot look upon his own reflection as though the person presented there
+      were <i>a stranger</i> to him; and yet this is necessary if he is to take
+      <i>an objective view</i>. In the last resort, an objective view means a
+      deep-rooted feeling on the part of the individual, as a moral being, that
+      that which he is contemplating is <i>not himself</i><a href="#linknote-24"
+      name="linknoteref-24" id="linknoteref-24">24</a>; and unless he can take
+      this point of view, he will not see things in a really true light, which
+      is possible only if he is alive to their actual defects, exactly as they
+      are. Instead of that, when a man sees himself in the glass, something out
+      of his own egotistic nature whispers to him to take care to remember that
+      <i>it is no stranger, but himself, that he is looking at</i>; and this
+      operates as a <i>noli me tang ere</i>, and prevents him taking an
+      objective view. It seems, indeed, as if, without the leaven of a grain of
+      malice, such a view were impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-24" id="linknote-24"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      24 (<a href="#linknoteref-24">return</a>)<br /> [ Cf. <i>Grundprobleme der
+      Ethik</i>, p. 275.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      According as a man's mental energy is exerted or relaxed, will life appear
+      to him either so short, and petty, and fleeting, that nothing can possibly
+      happen over which it is worth his while to spend emotion; that nothing
+      really matters, whether it is pleasure or riches, or even fame, and that
+      in whatever way a man may have failed, he cannot have lost much&mdash;or,
+      on the other hand, life will seem so long, so important, so all in all, so
+      momentous and so full of difficulty that we have to plunge into it with
+      our whole soul if we are to obtain a share of its goods, make sure of its
+      prizes, and carry out our plans. This latter is the immanent and common
+      view of life; it is what Gracian means when he speaks of the serious way
+      of looking at things&mdash;<i>tomar muy de veras el vivir</i>. The former
+      is the transcendental view, which is well expressed in Ovid's <i>non est
+      tanti</i>&mdash;it is not worth so much trouble; still better, however, by
+      Plato's remark that nothing in human affairs is worth any great anxiety&mdash;[Greek:
+      oute ti ton anthropinon axion esti megalaes spoudaes.] This condition of
+      mind is due to the intellect having got the upper hand in the domain of
+      consciousness, where, freed from the mere service of the will, it looks
+      upon the phenomena of life objectively, and so cannot fail to gain a clear
+      insight into its vain and futile character. But in the other condition of
+      mind, will predominates; and the intellect exists only to light it on its
+      way to the attainment of its desires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man is great or small according as he leans to the one or the other of
+      these views of life.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      People of very brilliant ability think little of admitting their errors
+      and weaknesses, or of letting others see them. They look upon them as
+      something for which they have duly paid; and instead of fancying that
+      these weaknesses are a disgrace to them, they consider they are doing them
+      an honor. This is especially the case when the errors are of the kind that
+      hang together with their qualities&mdash;<i>conditiones sine quibus non</i>&mdash;or,
+      as George Sand said, <i>les défauts de ses vertus</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Contrarily, there are people of good character and irreproachable
+      intellectual capacity, who, far from admitting the few little weaknesses
+      they have, conceal them with care, and show themselves very sensitive to
+      any suggestion of their existence; and this, just because their whole
+      merit consists in being free from error and infirmity. If these people are
+      found to have done anything wrong, their reputation immediately suffers.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      With people of only moderate ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with
+      those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy. Hence, it is just as
+      becoming in the latter to make no secret of the respect they bear
+      themselves and no disguise of the fact that they are conscious of unusual
+      power, as it is in the former to be modest. Valerius Maximus gives some
+      very neat examples of this in his chapter on self-confidence, <i>de
+      fiducia sui</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Not to go to the theatre is like making one's toilet without a mirror. But
+      it is still worse to take a decision without consulting a friend. For a
+      man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters, and yet go
+      wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will comes in and
+      deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take counsel of a
+      friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he falls ill, he sends
+      for a colleague.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      In all that we do, we wish, more or less, to come to the end; we are
+      impatient to finish and glad to be done. But the last scene of all, the
+      general end, is something that, as a rule, we wish as far off as may be.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a
+      foretaste of the resurrection. This is why even people who were
+      indifferent to each other, rejoice so much if they come together again
+      after twenty or thirty years' separation.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Intellects differ from one another in a very real and fundamental way: but
+      no comparison can well be made by merely general observations. It is
+      necessary to come close, and to go into details; for the difference that
+      exists cannot be seen from afar; and it is not easy to judge by outward
+      appearances, as in the several cases of education, leisure and occupation.
+      But even judging by these alone, it must be admitted that many a man has
+      <i>a degree of existence</i> at least ten times as high as another&mdash;in
+      other words, exists ten times as much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am not speaking here of savages whose life is often only one degree
+      above that of the apes in their woods. Consider, for instance, a porter in
+      Naples or Venice (in the north of Europe solicitude for the winter months
+      makes people more thoughtful and therefore reflective); look at the life
+      he leads, from its beginning to its end:&mdash;driven by poverty; living
+      on his physical strength; meeting the needs of every day, nay, of every
+      hour, by hard work, great effort, constant tumult, want in all its forms,
+      no care for the morrow; his only comfort rest after exhaustion; continuous
+      quarreling; not a moment free for reflection; such sensual delights as a
+      mild climate and only just sufficient food will permit of; and then,
+      finally, as the metaphysical element, the crass superstition of his
+      church; the whole forming a manner of life with only a low degree of
+      consciousness, where a man hustles, or rather is hustled, through his
+      existence. This restless and confused dream forms the life of how many
+      millions!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such men <i>think</i> only just so much as is necessary to carry out their
+      will for the moment. They never reflect upon their life as a connected
+      whole, let alone, then, upon existence in general; to a certain extent
+      they may be said to exist without really knowing it. The existence of the
+      mobsman or the slave who lives on in this unthinking way, stands very much
+      nearer than ours to that of the brute, which is confined entirely to the
+      present moment; but, for that very reason, it has also less of pain in it
+      than ours. Nay, since all pleasure is in its nature negative, that is to
+      say, consists in freedom from some form of misery or need, the constant
+      and rapid interchange between setting about something and getting it done,
+      which is the permanent accompaniment of the work they do, and then again
+      the augmented form which this takes when they go from work to rest and the
+      satisfaction of their needs&mdash;all this gives them a constant source of
+      enjoyment; and the fact that it is much commoner to see happy faces
+      amongst the poor than amongst the rich, is a sure proof that it is used to
+      good advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing from this kind of man, consider, next, the sober, sensible
+      merchant, who leads a life of speculation, thinks long over his plans and
+      carries them out with great care, founds a house, and provides for his
+      wife, his children and descendants; takes his share, too, in the life of a
+      community. It is obvious that a man like this has a much higher degree of
+      consciousness than the former, and so his existence has a higher degree of
+      reality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then look at the man of learning, who investigates, it may be, the history
+      of the past. He will have reached the point at which a man becomes
+      conscious of existence as a whole, sees beyond the period of his own life,
+      beyond his own personal interests, thinking over the whole course of the
+      world's history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, finally, look at the poet or the philosopher, in whom reflection has
+      reached such a height, that, instead of being drawn on to investigate any
+      one particular phenomenon of existence, he stands in amazement <i>before
+      existence itself</i>, this great sphinx, and makes it his problem. In him
+      consciousness has reached the degree of clearness at which it embraces the
+      world itself: his intellect has completely abandoned its function as the
+      servant of his will, and now holds the world before him; and the world
+      calls upon him much more to examine and consider it, than to play a part
+      in it himself. If, then, the degree of consciousness is the degree of
+      reality, such a man will be said to exist most of all, and there will be
+      sense and significance in so describing him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the two extremes here sketched, and the intervening stages,
+      everyone will be able to find the place at which he himself stands.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      We know that man is in general superior to all other animals, and this is
+      also the case in his capacity for being trained. Mohammedans are trained
+      to pray with their faces turned towards Mecca, five times a day; and they
+      never fail to do it. Christians are trained to cross themselves on certain
+      occasions, to bow, and so on. Indeed, it may be said that religion is the
+      <i>chef d'oeuvre</i> of the art of training, because it trains people in
+      the way they shall think: and, as is well known, you cannot begin the
+      process too early. There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be
+      firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before
+      the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great
+      solemnity. For as in the case of animals, so in that of men, training is
+      successful only when you begin in early youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noblemen and gentlemen are trained to hold nothing sacred but their word
+      of honor&mdash;to maintain a zealous, rigid, and unshaken belief in the
+      ridiculous code of chivalry; and if they are called upon to do so, to seal
+      their belief by dying for it, and seriously to regard a king as a being of
+      a higher order.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, our expressions of politeness, the compliments we make, in
+      particular, the respectful attentions we pay to ladies, are a matter of
+      training; as also our esteem for good birth, rank, titles, and so on. Of
+      the same character is the resentment we feel at any insult directed
+      against us; and the measure of this resentment may be exactly determined
+      by the nature of the insult. An Englishman, for instance, thinks it a
+      deadly insult to be told that he is no gentleman, or, still worse, that he
+      is a liar; a Frenchman has the same feeling if you call him a coward, and
+      a German if you say he is stupid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are many persons who are trained to be strictly honorable in regard
+      to one particular matter, while they have little honor to boast of in
+      anything else. Many a man, for instance, will not steal your money; but he
+      will lay hands on everything of yours that he can enjoy without having to
+      pay for it. A man of business will often deceive you without the slightest
+      scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit a theft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Imagination is strong in a man when that particular function of the brain
+      which enables him to observe is roused to activity without any necessary
+      excitement of the senses. Accordingly, we find that imagination is active
+      just in proportion as our senses are not excited by external objects. A
+      long period of solitude, whether in prison or in a sick room; quiet,
+      twilight, darkness&mdash;these are the things that promote its activity;
+      and under their influence it comes into play of itself. On the other hand,
+      when a great deal of material is presented to our faculties of
+      observation, as happens on a journey, or in the hurly-burly of the world,
+      or, again, in broad daylight, the imagination is idle, and, even though
+      call may be made upon it, refuses to become active, as though it
+      understood that that was not its proper time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, if the imagination is to yield any real product, it must have
+      received a great deal of material from the external world. This is the
+      only way in which its storehouse can be filled. The phantasy is nourished
+      much in the same way as the body, which is least capable of any work and
+      enjoys doing nothing just in the very moment when it receives its food
+      which it has to digest. And yet it is to this very food that it owes the
+      power which it afterwards puts forth at the right time.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the
+      centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other;
+      and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which
+      it can remain at rest.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      By a process of contradiction, distance in space makes things look small,
+      and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks so much
+      better in a contracting mirror or in a <i>camera obscura</i>, than it is
+      in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The scenes
+      and events of long ago, and the persons who took part in them, wear a
+      charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the outlines and
+      takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys no such
+      advantage, and so it always seems defective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And again, as regards space, small objects close to us look big, and if
+      they are very close, we may be able to see nothing else, but when we go a
+      little way off, they become minute and invisible. It is the same again as
+      regards time. The little incidents and accidents of every day fill us with
+      emotion, anxiety, annoyance, passion, as long as they are close to us,
+      when they appear so big, so important, so serious; but as soon as they are
+      borne down the restless stream of time, they lose what significance they
+      had; we think no more of them and soon forget them altogether. They were
+      big only because they were near.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <i>Joy</i> and <i>sorrow</i> are not ideas of the mind, but affections of
+      the will, and so they do not lie in the domain of memory. We cannot recall
+      our joys and sorrows; by which I mean that we cannot renew them. We can
+      recall only the <i>ideas</i> that accompanied them; and, in particular,
+      the things we were led to say; and these form a gauge of our feelings at
+      the time. Hence our memory of joys and sorrows is always imperfect, and
+      they become a matter of indifference to us as soon as they are over. This
+      explains the vanity of the attempt, which we sometimes make, to revive the
+      pleasures and the pains of the past. Pleasure and pain are essentially an
+      affair of the will; and the will, as such, is not possessed of memory,
+      which is a function of the intellect; and this in its turn gives out and
+      takes in nothing but thoughts and ideas, which are not here in question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a curious fact that in bad days we can very vividly recall the good
+      time that is now no more; but that in good days, we have only a very cold
+      and imperfect memory of the bad.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      We have a much better memory of actual objects or pictures than for mere
+      ideas. Hence a good imagination makes it easier to learn languages; for by
+      its aid, the new word is at once united with the actual object to which it
+      refers; whereas, if there is no imagination, it is simply put on a
+      parallel with the equivalent word in the mother tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mnemonics should not only mean the art of keeping something indirectly in
+      the memory by the use of some direct pun or witticism; it should, rather,
+      be applied to a systematic theory of memory, and explain its several
+      attributes by reference both to its real nature, and to the relation in
+      which these attributes stand to one another.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      There are moments in life when our senses obtain a higher and rarer degree
+      of clearness, apart from any particular occasion for it in the nature of
+      our surroundings; and explicable, rather, on physiological grounds alone,
+      as the result of some enhanced state of susceptibility, working from
+      within outwards. Such moments remain indelibly impressed upon the memory,
+      and preserve themselves in their individuality entire. We can assign no
+      reason for it, nor explain why this among so many thousand moments like it
+      should be specially remembered. It seems as much a matter of chance as
+      when single specimens of a whole race of animals now extinct are
+      discovered in the layers of a rock; or when, on opening a book, we light
+      upon an insect accidentally crushed within the leaves. Memories of this
+      kind are always sweet and pleasant.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      It occasionally happens that, for no particular reason, long-forgotten
+      scenes suddenly start up in the memory. This may in many cases be due to
+      the action of some hardly perceptible odor, which accompanied those scenes
+      and now recurs exactly same as before. For it is well known that the sense
+      of smell is specially effective in awakening memories, and that in general
+      it does not require much to rouse a train of ideas. And I may say, in
+      passing, that the sense of sight is connected with the understanding,<a
+      href="#linknote-25" name="linknoteref-25" id="linknoteref-25">25</a> the
+      sense of hearing with the reason,<a href="#linknote-26"
+      name="linknoteref-26" id="linknoteref-26">26</a> and, as we see in the
+      present case, the sense of smell with the memory. Touch and Taste are more
+      material and dependent upon contact. They have no ideal side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-25" id="linknote-25"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      25 (<a href="#linknoteref-25">return</a>)<br /> [<i>Wierfache Wurzel</i> §
+      21.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-26" id="linknote-26"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      26 (<a href="#linknoteref-26">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Parerga</i> vol. ii, §
+      311.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      It must also be reckoned among the peculiar attributes of memory that a
+      slight state of intoxication often so greatly enhances the recollection of
+      past times and scenes, that all the circumstances connected with them come
+      back much more clearly than would be possible in a state of sobriety; but
+      that, on the other hand, the recollection of what one said or did while
+      the intoxication lasted, is more than usually imperfect; nay, that if one
+      has been absolutely tipsy, it is gone altogether. We may say, then, that
+      whilst intoxication enhances the memory for what is past, it allows it to
+      remember little of the present.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.
+      Contrarily, if they are active within, they do not care to be dragged out
+      of themselves; it disturbs and impedes their thoughts in a way that is
+      often most ruinous to them.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      I am not surprised that some people are bored when they find themselves
+      alone; for they cannot laugh if they are quite by themselves. The very
+      idea of it seems folly to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Are we, then, to look upon laughter as merely O signal for others&mdash;a
+      mere sign, like a word? What makes it impossible for people to laugh when
+      they are alone is nothing but want of imagination, dullness of mind
+      generally&mdash;[Greek: anaisthaesia kai bradutaes psuchaes], as
+      Theophrastus has it.<a href="#linknote-27" name="linknoteref-27"
+      id="linknoteref-27">27</a> The lower animals never laugh, either alone or
+      in company. Myson, the misanthropist, was once surprised by one of these
+      people as he was laughing to himself. <i>Why do you laugh</i>? he asked;
+      <i>there is no one with you. That is just why I am laughing</i>, said
+      Myson.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-27" id="linknote-27"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      27 (<a href="#linknoteref-27">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Characters</i>, c.
+      27.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Natural <i>gesticulation</i>, such as commonly accompanies any lively
+      talk, is a language of its own, more widespread, even, than the language
+      of words&mdash;so far, I mean, as it is independent of words and alike in
+      all nations. It is true that nations make use of it in proportion as they
+      are vivacious, and that in particular cases, amongst the Italians, for
+      instance, it is supplemented by certain peculiar gestures which are merely
+      conventional, and therefore possessed of nothing more than a local value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the universal use made of it, gesticulation has some analogy with logic
+      and grammar, in that it has to do with the form, rather than with the
+      matter of conversation; but on the other hand it is distinguishable from
+      them by the fact that it has more of a moral than of an intellectual
+      bearing; in other words, it reflects the movements of the will. As an
+      accompaniment of conversation it is like the bass of a melody; and if, as
+      in music, it keeps true to the progress of the treble, it serves to
+      heighten the effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a conversation, the gesture depends upon the form in which the
+      subject-matter is conveyed; and it is interesting to observe that,
+      whatever that subject-matter may be, with a recurrence of the form, the
+      very same gesture is repeated. So if I happen to see&mdash;from my window,
+      say&mdash;two persons carrying on a lively conversation, without my being
+      able to catch a word, I can, nevertheless, understand the general nature
+      of it perfectly well; I mean, the kind of thing that is being said and the
+      form it takes. There is no mistake about it. The speaker is arguing about
+      something, advancing his reasons, then limiting their application, then
+      driving them home and drawing the conclusion in triumph; or he is
+      recounting his experiences, proving, perhaps, beyond the shadow of a
+      doubt, how much he has been injured, but bringing the clearest and most
+      damning evidence to show that his opponents were foolish and obstinate
+      people who would not be convinced; or else he is telling of the splendid
+      plan he laid, and how he carried it to a successful issue, or perhaps
+      failed because the luck was against him; or, it may be, he is saying that
+      he was completely at a loss to know what to do, or that he was quick in
+      seeing some traps set for him, and that by insisting on his rights or by
+      applying a little force, he succeeded in frustrating and punishing his
+      enemies; and so on in hundreds of cases of a similar kind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strictly speaking, however, what I get from gesticulation alone is an
+      abstract notion of the essential drift of what is being said, and that,
+      too, whether I judge from a moral or an intellectual point of view. It is
+      the quintessence, the true substance of the conversation, and this remains
+      identical, no matter what may have given rise to the conversation, or what
+      it may be about; the relation between the two being that of a general idea
+      or class-name to the individuals which it covers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I have said, the most interesting and amusing part of the matter is the
+      complete identity and solidarity of the gestures used to denote the same
+      set of circumstances, even though by people of very different temperament;
+      so that the gestures become exactly like words of a language, alike for
+      every one, and subject only to such small modifications as depend upon
+      variety of accent and education. And yet there can be no doubt but that
+      these standing gestures, which every one uses, are the result of no
+      convention or collusion. They are original and innate&mdash;a true
+      language of nature; consolidated, it may be, by imitation and the
+      influence of custom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is well known that it is part of an actor's duty to make a careful
+      study of gesture; and the same thing is true, to a somewhat smaller
+      degree, of a public speaker. This study must consist chiefly in watching
+      others and imitating their movements, for there are no abstract rules
+      fairly applicable to the matter, with the exception of some very general
+      leading principles, such as&mdash;to take an example&mdash;that the
+      gesture must not follow the word, but rather come immediately before it,
+      by way of announcing its approach and attracting the hearer's attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Englishmen entertain a peculiar contempt for gesticulation, and look upon
+      it as something vulgar and undignified. This seems to me a silly prejudice
+      on their part, and the outcome of their general prudery. For here we have
+      a language which nature has given to every one, and which every one
+      understands; and to do away with and forbid it for no better reason than
+      that it is opposed to that much-lauded thing, gentlemanly feeling, is a
+      very questionable proceeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON EDUCATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The human intellect is said to be so constituted that <i>general ideas</i>
+      arise by abstraction from <i>particular observations</i>, and therefore
+      come after them in point of time. If this is what actually occurs, as
+      happens in the case of a man who has to depend solely upon his own
+      experience for what he learns&mdash;who has no teacher and no book,&mdash;such
+      a man knows quite well which of his particular observations belong to and
+      are represented by each of his general ideas. He has a perfect
+      acquaintance with both sides of his experience, and accordingly, he treats
+      everything that comes in his way from a right standpoint. This might be
+      called the <i>natural</i> method of education.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Contrarily, the <i>artificial</i> method is to hear what other people say,
+      to learn and to read, and so to get your head crammed full of general
+      ideas before you have any sort of extended acquaintance with the world as
+      it is, and as you may see it for yourself. You will be told that the
+      particular observations which go to make these general ideas will come to
+      you later on in the course of experience; but until that time arrives, you
+      apply your general ideas wrongly, you judge men and things from a wrong
+      standpoint, you see them in a wrong light, and treat them in a wrong way.
+      So it is that education perverts the mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This explains why it so frequently happens that, after a long course of
+      learning and reading, we enter upon the world in our youth, partly with an
+      artless ignorance of things, partly with wrong notions about them; so that
+      our demeanor savors at one moment of a nervous anxiety, at another of a
+      mistaken confidence. The reason of this is simply that our head is full of
+      general ideas which we are now trying to turn to some use, but which we
+      hardly ever apply rightly. This is the result of acting in direct
+      opposition to the natural development of the mind by obtaining general
+      ideas first, and particular observations last: it is putting the cart
+      before the horse. Instead of developing the child's own faculties of
+      discernment, and teaching it to judge and think for itself, the teacher
+      uses all his energies to stuff its head full of the ready-made thoughts of
+      other people. The mistaken views of life, which spring from a false
+      application of general ideas, have afterwards to be corrected by long
+      years of experience; and it is seldom that they are wholly corrected. This
+      is why so few men of learning are possessed of common-sense, such as is
+      often to be met with in people who have had no instruction at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To acquire a knowledge of the world</i> might be defined as the aim of
+      all education; and it follows from what I have said that special stress
+      should be laid upon beginning to acquire this knowledge <i>at the right
+      end</i>. As I have shown, this means, in the main, that the particular
+      observation of a thing shall precede the general idea of it; further, that
+      narrow and circumscribed ideas shall come before ideas of a wide range. It
+      means, therefore, that the whole system of education shall follow in the
+      steps that must have been taken by the ideas themselves in the course of
+      their formation. But whenever any of these steps are skipped or left out,
+      the instruction is defective, and the ideas obtained are false; and
+      finally, a distorted view of the world arises, peculiar to the individual
+      himself&mdash;a view such as almost everyone entertains for some time, and
+      most men for as long as they live. No one can look into his own mind
+      without seeing that it was only after reaching a very mature age, and in
+      some cases when he least expected it, that he came to a right
+      understanding or a clear view of many matters in his life, that, after
+      all, were not very difficult or complicated. Up till then, they were
+      points in his knowledge of the world which were still obscure, due to his
+      having skipped some particular lesson in those early days of his
+      education, whatever it may have been like&mdash;whether artificial and
+      conventional, or of that natural kind which is based upon individual
+      experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It follows that an attempt should be made to find out the strictly natural
+      course of knowledge, so that education may proceed methodically by keeping
+      to it; and that children may become acquainted with the ways of the world,
+      without getting wrong ideas into their heads, which very often cannot be
+      got out again. If this plan were adopted, special care would have to be
+      taken to prevent children from using words without clearly understanding
+      their meaning and application. The fatal tendency to be satisfied with
+      words instead of trying to understand things&mdash;to learn phrases by
+      heart, so that they may prove a refuge in time of need, exists, as a rule,
+      even in children; and the tendency lasts on into manhood, making the
+      knowledge of many learned persons to consist in mere verbiage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the main endeavor must always be to let particular observations
+      precede general ideas, and not <i>vice versa</i>, as is usually and
+      unfortunately the case; as though a child should come feet foremost into
+      the world, or a verse be begun by writing down the rhyme! The ordinary
+      method is to imprint ideas and opinions, in the strict sense of the word,
+      <i>prejudices</i>, on the mind of the child, before it has had any but a
+      very few particular observations. It is thus that he afterwards comes to
+      view the world and gather experience through the medium of those
+      ready-made ideas, rather than to let his ideas be formed for him out of
+      his own experience of life, as they ought to be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man sees a great many things when he looks at the world for himself, and
+      he sees them from many sides; but this method of learning is not nearly so
+      short or so quick as the method which employs abstract ideas and makes
+      hasty generalizations about everything. Experience, therefore, will be a
+      long time in correcting preconceived ideas, or perhaps never bring its
+      task to an end; for wherever a man finds that the aspect of things seems
+      to contradict the general ideas he has formed, he will begin by rejecting
+      the evidence it offers as partial and one-sided; nay, he will shut his
+      eyes to it altogether and deny that it stands in any contradiction at all
+      with his preconceived notions, in order that he may thus preserve them
+      uninjured. So it is that many a man carries about a burden of wrong
+      notions all his life long&mdash;crotchets, whims, fancies, prejudices,
+      which at last become fixed ideas. The fact is that he has never tried to
+      form his fundamental ideas for himself out of his own experience of life,
+      his own way of looking at the world, because he has taken over his ideas
+      ready-made from other people; and this it is that makes him&mdash;as it
+      makes how many others!&mdash;so shallow and superficial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instead of that method of instruction, care should be taken to educate
+      children on the natural lines. No idea should ever be established in a
+      child's mind otherwise than by what the child can see for itself, or at
+      any rate it should be verified by the same means; and the result of this
+      would be that the child's ideas, if few, would be well-grounded and
+      accurate. It would learn how to measure things by its own standard rather
+      than by another's; and so it would escape a thousand strange fancies and
+      prejudices, and not need to have them eradicated by the lessons it will
+      subsequently be taught in the school of life. The child would, in this
+      way, have its mind once for all habituated to clear views and
+      thorough-going knowledge; it would use its own judgment and take an
+      unbiased estimate of things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, in general, children should not form their notions of what life is
+      like from the copy before they have learned it from the original, to
+      whatever aspect of it their attention may be directed. Instead, therefore,
+      of hastening to place <i>books</i>, and books alone, in their hands, let
+      them be made acquainted, step by step, with <i>things</i>&mdash;with the
+      actual circumstances of human life. And above all let care be taken to
+      bring them to a clear and objective view of the world as it is, to educate
+      them always to derive their ideas directly from real life, and to shape
+      them in conformity with it&mdash;not to fetch them from other sources,
+      such as books, fairy tales, or what people say&mdash;then to apply them
+      ready-made to real life. For this will mean that their heads are full of
+      wrong notions, and that they will either see things in a false light or
+      try in vain to <i>remodel the world</i> to suit their views, and so enter
+      upon false paths; and that, too, whether they are only constructing
+      theories of life or engaged in the actual business of it. It is incredible
+      how much harm is done when the seeds of wrong notions are laid in the mind
+      in those early years, later on to bear a crop of prejudice; for the
+      subsequent lessons, which are learned from real life in the world have to
+      be devoted mainly to their extirpation. <i>To unlearn the evil</i> was the
+      answer, according to Diogenes Laertius,<a href="#linknote-28"
+      name="linknoteref-28" id="linknoteref-28">28</a> Antisthenes gave, when he
+      was asked what branch of knowledge was most necessary; and we can see what
+      he meant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-28" id="linknote-28"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      28 (<a href="#linknoteref-28">return</a>)<br /> [ vi. 7.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No child under the age of fifteen should receive instruction in subjects
+      which may possibly be the vehicle of serious error, such as philosophy,
+      religion, or any other branch of knowledge where it is necessary to take
+      large views; because wrong notions imbibed early can seldom be rooted out,
+      and of all the intellectual faculties, judgment is the last to arrive at
+      maturity. The child should give its attention either to subjects where no
+      error is possible at all, such as mathematics, or to those in which there
+      is no particular danger in making a mistake, such as languages, natural
+      science, history and so on. And in general, the branches of knowledge
+      which are to be studied at any period of life should be such as the mind
+      is equal to at that period and can perfectly understand. Childhood and
+      youth form the time for collecting materials, for getting a special and
+      thorough knowledge of the individual and particular things. In those years
+      it is too early to form views on a large scale; and ultimate explanations
+      must be put off to a later date. The faculty of judgment, which cannot
+      come into play without mature experience, should be left to itself; and
+      care should be taken not to anticipate its action by inculcating
+      prejudice, which will paralyze it for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the other hand, the memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it
+      is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the
+      things that should be committed to memory the utmost care and forethought
+      must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten.
+      This precious soil must therefore be cultivated so as to bear as much
+      fruit as possible. If you think how deeply rooted in your memory are those
+      persons whom you knew in the first twelve years of your life, how
+      indelible the impression made upon you by the events of those years, how
+      clear your recollection of most of the things that happened to you then,
+      most of what was told or taught you, it will seem a natural thing to take
+      the susceptibility and tenacity of the mind at that period as the
+      ground-work of education. This may be done by a strict observance of
+      method, and a systematic regulation of the impressions which the mind is
+      to receive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the years of youth allotted to a man are short, and memory is, in
+      general, bound within narrow limits; still more so, the memory of any one
+      individual. Since this is the case, it is all-important to fill the memory
+      with what is essential and material in any branch of knowledge, to the
+      exclusion of everything else. The decision as to what is essential and
+      material should rest with the masterminds in every department of thought;
+      their choice should be made after the most mature deliberation, and the
+      outcome of it fixed and determined. Such a choice would have to proceed by
+      sifting the things which it is necessary and important for a man to know
+      in general, and then, necessary and important for him to know in any
+      particular business or calling. Knowledge of the first kind would have to
+      be classified, after an encyclopaedic fashion, in graduated courses,
+      adapted to the degree of general culture which a man may be expected to
+      have in the circumstances in which he is placed; beginning with a course
+      limited to the necessary requirements of primary education, and extending
+      upwards to the subjects treated of in all the branches of philosophical
+      thought. The regulation of the second kind of knowledge would be left to
+      those who had shown genuine mastery in the several departments into which
+      it is divided; and the whole system would provide an elaborate rule or
+      canon for intellectual education, which would, of course, have to be
+      revised every ten years. Some such arrangement as this would employ the
+      youthful power of the memory to best advantage, and supply excellent
+      working material to the faculty of judgment, when it made its appearance
+      later on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, it has reached
+      the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an individual, is
+      capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is established
+      between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he has actually
+      perceived for himself. This will mean that each of his abstract ideas
+      rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of observation, which alone
+      endows it with any real value; and also that he is able to place every
+      observation he makes under the right abstract idea which belongs to it.
+      Maturity is the work of experience alone; and therefore it requires time.
+      The knowledge we derive from our own observation is usually distinct from
+      that which we acquire through the medium of abstract ideas; the one coming
+      to us in the natural way, the other by what people tell us, and the course
+      of instruction we receive, whether it is good or bad. The result is, that
+      in youth there is generally very little agreement or correspondence
+      between our abstract ideas, which are merely phrases in the mind, and that
+      real knowledge which we have obtained by our own observation. It is only
+      later on that a gradual approach takes place between these two kinds of
+      knowledge, accompanied by a mutual correction of error; and knowledge is
+      not mature until this coalition is accomplished. This maturity or
+      perfection of knowledge is something quite independent of another kind of
+      perfection, which may be of a high or a low order&mdash;the perfection, I
+      mean, to which a man may bring his own individual faculties; which is
+      measured, not by any correspondence between the two kinds of knowledge,
+      but by the degree of intensity which each kind attains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the practical man the most needful thing is to acquire an accurate and
+      profound knowledge of <i>the ways of the world</i>. But this, though the
+      most needful, is also the most wearisome of all studies, as a man may
+      reach a great age without coming to the end of his task; whereas, in the
+      domain of the sciences, he masters the more important facts when he is
+      still young. In acquiring that knowledge of the world, it is while he is a
+      novice, namely, in boyhood and in youth, that the first and hardest
+      lessons are put before him; but it often happens that even in later years
+      there is still a great deal to be learned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study is difficult enough in itself; but the difficulty is doubled by
+      <i>novels</i>, which represent a state of things in life and the world,
+      such as, in fact, does not exist. Youth is credulous, and accepts these
+      views of life, which then become part and parcel of the mind; so that,
+      instead of a merely negative condition of ignorance, you have positive
+      error&mdash;a whole tissue of false notions to start with; and at a later
+      date these actually spoil the schooling of experience, and put a wrong
+      construction on the lessons it teaches. If, before this, the youth had no
+      light at all to guide him, he is now misled by a will-o'-the-wisp; still
+      more often is this the case with a girl. They have both had a false view
+      of things foisted on them by reading novels; and expectations have been
+      aroused which can never be fulfilled. This generally exercises a baneful
+      influence on their whole life. In this respect those whose youth has
+      allowed them no time or opportunity for reading novels&mdash;those who
+      work with their hands and the like&mdash;are in a position of decided
+      advantage. There are a few novels to which this reproach cannot be
+      addressed&mdash;nay, which have an effect the contrary of bad. First and
+      foremost, to give an example, <i>Gil Blas</i>, and the other works of Le
+      Sage (or rather their Spanish originals); further, <i>The Vicar of
+      Wakefield</i>, and, to some extent Sir Walter Scott's novels. <i>Don
+      Quixote</i> may be regarded as a satirical exhibition of the error to
+      which I am referring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      OF WOMEN.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Schiller's poem in honor of women, <i>Würde der Frauen</i>, is the result
+      of much careful thought, and it appeals to the reader by its antithetic
+      style and its use of contrast; but as an expression of the true praise
+      which should be accorded to them, it is, I think, inferior to these few
+      words of Jouy's: <i>Without women, the beginning of our life would be
+      helpless; the middle, devoid of pleasure; and the end, of consolation</i>.
+      The same thing is more feelingly expressed by Byron in <i>Sardanapalus</i>:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                 <i>The very first
+  Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
+  Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
+  Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
+  Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
+  When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
+  Of watching the last hour of him who led them</i>.
+
+  (Act I Scene 2.)
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      These two passages indicate the right standpoint for the appreciation of
+      women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that woman is
+      not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of the body. She
+      pays the debt of life not by what she does, but by what she suffers; by
+      the pains of child-bearing and care for the child, and by submission to
+      her husband, to whom she should be a patient and cheering companion. The
+      keenest sorrows and joys are not for her, nor is she called upon to
+      display a great deal of strength. The current of her life should be more
+      gentle, peaceful and trivial than man's, without being essentially happier
+      or unhappier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Women are directly fitted for acting as the nurses and teachers of our
+      early childhood by the fact that they are themselves childish, frivolous
+      and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all their life long&mdash;a
+      kind of intermediate stage between the child and the full-grown man, who
+      is man in the strict sense of the word. See how a girl will fondle a child
+      for days together, dance with it and sing to it; and then think what a
+      man, with the best will in the world, could do if he were put in her
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With young girls Nature seems to have had in view what, in the language of
+      the drama, is called <i>a striking effect</i>; as for a few years she
+      dowers them with a wealth of beauty and is lavish in her gift of charm, at
+      the expense of all the rest of their life; so that during those years they
+      may capture the fantasy of some man to such a degree that he is hurried
+      away into undertaking the honorable care of them, in some form or other,
+      as long as they live&mdash;a step for which there would not appear to be
+      any sufficient warranty if reason only directed his thoughts. Accordingly,
+      Nature has equipped woman, as she does all her creatures, with the weapons
+      and implements requisite for the safeguarding of her existence, and for
+      just as long as it is necessary for her to have them. Here, as elsewhere,
+      Nature proceeds with her usual economy; for just as the female ant, after
+      fecundation, loses her wings, which are then superfluous, nay, actually a
+      danger to the business of breeding; so, after giving birth to one or two
+      children, a woman generally loses her beauty; probably, indeed, for
+      similar reasons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so we find that young girls, in their hearts, look upon domestic
+      affairs or work of any kind as of secondary importance, if not actually as
+      a mere jest. The only business that really claims their earnest attention
+      is love, making conquests, and everything connected with this&mdash;dress,
+      dancing, and so on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is in
+      arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning powers
+      and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a woman at
+      eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only reason of a sort&mdash;very
+      niggard in its dimensions. That is why women remain children their whole
+      life long; never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, cleaving
+      to the present moment, taking appearance for reality, and preferring
+      trifles to matters of the first importance. For it is by virtue of his
+      reasoning faculty that man does not live in the present only, like the
+      brute, but looks about him and considers the past and the future; and this
+      is the origin of prudence, as well as of that care and anxiety which so
+      many people exhibit. Both the advantages and the disadvantages which this
+      involves, are shared in by the woman to a smaller extent because of her
+      weaker power of reasoning. She may, in fact, be described as
+      intellectually short-sighted, because, while she has an intuitive
+      understanding of what lies quite close to her, her field of vision is
+      narrow and does not reach to what is remote; so that things which are
+      absent, or past, or to come, have much less effect upon women than upon
+      men. This is the reason why women are more often inclined to be
+      extravagant, and sometimes carry their inclination to a length that
+      borders upon madness. In their hearts, women think that it is men's
+      business to earn money and theirs to spend it&mdash;- if possible during
+      their husband's life, but, at any rate, after his death. The very fact
+      that their husband hands them over his earnings for purposes of
+      housekeeping, strengthens them in this belief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However many disadvantages all this may involve, there is at least this to
+      be said in its favor; that the woman lives more in the present than the
+      man, and that, if the present is at all tolerable, she enjoys it more
+      eagerly. This is the source of that cheerfulness which is peculiar to
+      women, fitting her to amuse man in his hours of recreation, and, in case
+      of need, to console him when he is borne down by the weight of his cares.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is by no means a bad plan to consult women in matters of difficulty, as
+      the Germans used to do in ancient times; for their way of looking at
+      things is quite different from ours, chiefly in the fact that they like to
+      take the shortest way to their goal, and, in general, manage to fix their
+      eyes upon what lies before them; while we, as a rule, see far beyond it,
+      just because it is in front of our noses. In cases like this, we need to
+      be brought back to the right standpoint, so as to recover the near and
+      simple view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, again, women are decidedly more sober in their judgment than we are,
+      so that they do not see more in things than is really there; whilst, if
+      our passions are aroused, we are apt to see things in an exaggerated way,
+      or imagine what does not exist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why it is that women
+      show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men do, and so treat them with
+      more kindness and interest; and why it is that, on the contrary, they are
+      inferior to men in point of justice, and less honorable and conscientious.
+      For it is just because their reasoning power is weak that present
+      circumstances have such a hold over them, and those concrete things, which
+      lie directly before their eyes, exercise a power which is seldom
+      counteracted to any extent by abstract principles of thought, by fixed
+      rules of conduct, firm resolutions, or, in general, by consideration for
+      the past and the future, or regard for what is absent and remote.
+      Accordingly, they possess the first and main elements that go to make a
+      virtuous character, but they are deficient in those secondary qualities
+      which are often a necessary instrument in the formation of it.<a
+      href="#linknote-29" name="linknoteref-29" id="linknoteref-29">29</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-29" id="linknote-29"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      29 (<a href="#linknoteref-29">return</a>)<br /> [ In this respect they may
+      be compared to an animal organism which contains a liver but no
+      gall-bladder. Here let me refer to what I have said in my treatise on <i>The
+      Foundation of Morals</i>, § 17.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hence, it will be found that the fundamental fault of the female character
+      is that it has <i>no sense of justice</i>. This is mainly due to the fact,
+      already mentioned, that women are defective in the powers of reasoning and
+      deliberation; but it is also traceable to the position which Nature has
+      assigned to them as the weaker sex. They are dependent, not upon strength,
+      but upon craft; and hence their instinctive capacity for cunning, and
+      their ineradicable tendency to say what is not true. For as lions are
+      provided with claws and teeth, and elephants and boars with tusks, bulls
+      with horns, and cuttle fish with its clouds of inky fluid, so Nature has
+      equipped woman, for her defence and protection, with the arts of
+      dissimulation; and all the power which Nature has conferred upon man in
+      the shape of physical strength and reason, has been bestowed upon women in
+      this form. Hence, dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a
+      quality of the stupid as of the clever. It is as natural for them to make
+      use of it on every occasion as it is for those animals to employ their
+      means of defence when they are attacked; they have a feeling that in doing
+      so they are only within their rights. Therefore a woman who is perfectly
+      truthful and not given to dissimulation is perhaps an impossibility, and
+      for this very reason they are so quick at seeing through dissimulation in
+      others that it is not a wise thing to attempt it with them. But this
+      fundamental defect which I have stated, with all that it entails, gives
+      rise to falsity, faithlessness, treachery, ingratitude, and so on. Perjury
+      in a court of justice is more often committed by women than by men. It
+      may, indeed, be generally questioned whether women ought to be sworn in at
+      all. From time to time one finds repeated cases everywhere of ladies, who
+      want for nothing, taking things from shop-counters when no one is looking,
+      and making off with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nature has appointed that the propagation of the species shall be the
+      business of men who are young, strong and handsome; so that the race may
+      not degenerate. This is the firm will and purpose of Nature in regard to
+      the species, and it finds its expression in the passions of women. There
+      is no law that is older or more powerful than this. Woe, then, to the man
+      who sets up claims and interests that will conflict with it; whatever he
+      may say and do, they will be unmercifully crushed at the first serious
+      encounter. For the innate rule that governs women's conduct, though it is
+      secret and unformulated, nay, unconscious in its working, is this: <i>We
+      are justified in deceiving those who think they have acquired rights over
+      the species by paying little attention to the individual, that is, to us.
+      The constitution and, therefore, the welfare of the species have been
+      placed in our hands and committed to our care, through the control we
+      obtain over the next generation, which proceeds from us; let us discharge
+      our duties conscientiously</i>. But women have no abstract knowledge of
+      this leading principle; they are conscious of it only as a concrete fact;
+      and they have no other method of giving expression to it than the way in
+      which they act when the opportunity arrives. And then their conscience
+      does not trouble them so much as we fancy; for in the darkest recesses of
+      their heart, they are aware that in committing a breach of their duty
+      towards the individual, they have all the better fulfilled their duty
+      towards the species, which is infinitely greater.<a href="#linknote-30"
+      name="linknoteref-30" id="linknoteref-30">30</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-30" id="linknote-30"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      30 (<a href="#linknoteref-30">return</a>)<br /> [ A more detailed
+      discussion of the matter in question may be found in my chief work, <i>Die
+      Welt als Wille und Vorstellung</i>, vol. ii, ch. 44.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And since women exist in the main solely for the propagation of the
+      species, and are not destined for anything else, they live, as a rule,
+      more for the species than for the individual, and in their hearts take the
+      affairs of the species more seriously than those of the individual. This
+      gives their whole life and being a certain levity; the general bent of
+      their character is in a direction fundamentally different from that of
+      man; and it is this to which produces that discord in married life which
+      is so frequent, and almost the normal state.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The natural feeling between men is mere indifference, but between women it
+      is actual enmity. The reason of this is that trade-jealousy&mdash;<i>odium
+      figulinum</i>&mdash;which, in the case of men does not go beyond the
+      confines of their own particular pursuit; but, with women, embraces the
+      whole sex; since they have only one kind of business. Even when they meet
+      in the street, women look at one another like Guelphs and Ghibellines. And
+      it is a patent fact that when two women make first acquaintance with each
+      other, they behave with more constraint and dissimulation than two men
+      would show in a like case; and hence it is that an exchange of compliments
+      between two women is a much more ridiculous proceeding than between two
+      men. Further, whilst a man will, as a general rule, always preserve a
+      certain amount of consideration and humanity in speaking to others, even
+      to those who are in a very inferior position, it is intolerable to see how
+      proudly and disdainfully a fine lady will generally behave towards one who
+      is in a lower social rank (I do not mean a woman who is in her service),
+      whenever she speaks to her. The reason of this may be that, with women,
+      differences of rank are much more precarious than with us; because, while
+      a hundred considerations carry weight in our case, in theirs there is only
+      one, namely, with which man they have found favor; as also that they stand
+      in much nearer relations with one another than men do, in consequence of
+      the one-sided nature of their calling. This makes them endeavor to lay
+      stress upon differences of rank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is only the man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulses that
+      could give the name of <i>the fair sex</i> to that under-sized,
+      narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged race; for the whole
+      beauty of the sex is bound up with this impulse. Instead of calling them
+      beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as the
+      un-aesthetic sex. Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine art,
+      have they really and truly any sense or susceptibility; it is a mere
+      mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their endeavor to
+      please. Hence, as a result of this, they are incapable of taking a <i>purely
+      objective interest</i> in anything; and the reason of it seems to me to be
+      as follows. A man tries to acquire <i>direct</i> mastery over things,
+      either by understanding them, or by forcing them to do his will. But a
+      woman is always and everywhere reduced to obtaining this mastery <i>indirectly</i>,
+      namely, through a man; and whatever direct mastery she may have is
+      entirely confined to him. And so it lies in woman's nature to look upon
+      everything only as a means for conquering man; and if she takes an
+      interest in anything else, it is simulated&mdash;a mere roundabout way of
+      gaining her ends by coquetry, and feigning what she does not feel. Hence,
+      even Rousseau declared: <i>Women have, in general, no love for any art;
+      they have no proper knowledge of any; and they have no genius</i>.<a
+      href="#linknote-31" name="linknoteref-31" id="linknoteref-31">31</a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-31" id="linknote-31"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      31 (<a href="#linknoteref-31">return</a>)<br /> [ Lettre à d'Alembert, Note
+      xx.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one who sees at all below the surface can have failed to remark the
+      same thing. You need only observe the kind of attention women bestow upon
+      a concert, an opera, or a play&mdash;the childish simplicity, for example,
+      with which they keep on chattering during the finest passages in the
+      greatest masterpieces. If it is true that the Greeks excluded women from
+      their theatres they were quite right in what they did; at any rate you
+      would have been able to hear what was said upon the stage. In our day,
+      besides, or in lieu of saying, <i>Let a woman keep silence in the church</i>,
+      it would be much to the point to say <i>Let a woman keep silence in the
+      theatre</i>. This might, perhaps, be put up in big letters on the curtain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And you cannot expect anything else of women if you consider that the most
+      distinguished intellects among the whole sex have never managed to produce
+      a single achievement in the fine arts that is really great, genuine, and
+      original; or given to the world any work of permanent value in any sphere.
+      This is most strikingly shown in regard to painting, where mastery of
+      technique is at least as much within their power as within ours&mdash;and
+      hence they are diligent in cultivating it; but still, they have not a
+      single great painting to boast of, just because they are deficient in that
+      objectivity of mind which is so directly indispensable in painting. They
+      never get beyond a subjective point of view. It is quite in keeping with
+      this that ordinary women have no real susceptibility for art at all; for
+      Nature proceeds in strict sequence&mdash;<i>non facit saltum</i>. And
+      Huarte<a href="#linknote-32" name="linknoteref-32" id="linknoteref-32">32</a>
+      in his <i>Examen de ingenios para las scienzias</i>&mdash;a book which has
+      been famous for three hundred years&mdash;denies women the possession of
+      all the higher faculties. The case is not altered by particular and
+      partial exceptions; taken as a whole, women are, and remain,
+      thorough-going Philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd
+      arrangement which allows them to share the rank and title of their
+      husbands they are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. And,
+      further, it is just because they are Philistines that modern society,
+      where they take the lead and set the tone, is in such a bad way.
+      Napoleon's saying&mdash;that <i>women have no rank</i>&mdash;should be
+      adopted as the right standpoint in determining their position in society;
+      and as regards their other qualities Chamfort<a href="#linknote-33"
+      name="linknoteref-33" id="linknoteref-33">33</a> makes the very true
+      remark: <i>They are made to trade with our own weaknesses and our follies,
+      but not with our reason. The sympathies that exist between them and men
+      are skin-deep only, and do not touch the mind or the feelings or the
+      character</i>. They form the <i>sexus sequior</i>&mdash;the second sex,
+      inferior in every respect to the first; their infirmities should be
+      treated with consideration; but to show them great reverence is extremely
+      ridiculous, and lowers us in their eyes. When Nature made two divisions of
+      the human race, she did not draw the line exactly through the middle.
+      These divisions are polar and opposed to each other, it is true; but the
+      difference between them is not qualitative merely, it is also
+      quantitative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-32" id="linknote-32"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      32 (<a href="#linknoteref-32">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;-
+      Juan Huarte (1520?-1590) practised as a physician at Madrid. The work
+      cited by Schopenhauer is known, and has been translated into many
+      languages.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-33" id="linknote-33"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      33 (<a href="#linknoteref-33">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;See
+      <i>Counsels and Maxims</i>, p. 12, Note.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is just the view which the ancients took of woman, and the view which
+      people in the East take now; and their judgment as to her proper position
+      is much more correct than ours, with our old French notions of gallantry
+      and our preposterous system of reverence&mdash;that highest product of
+      Teutonico-Christian stupidity. These notions have served only to make
+      women more arrogant and overbearing; so that one is occasionally reminded
+      of the holy apes in Benares, who in the consciousness of their sanctity
+      and inviolable position, think they can do exactly as they please.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the West, the woman, and especially the <i>lady</i>, finds herself
+      in a false position; for woman, rightly called by the ancients, <i>sexus
+      sequior</i>, is by no means fit to be the object of our honor and
+      veneration, or to hold her head higher than man and be on equal terms with
+      him. The consequences of this false position are sufficiently obvious.
+      Accordingly, it would be a very desirable thing if this Number-Two of the
+      human race were in Europe also relegated to her natural place, and an end
+      put to that lady nuisance, which not only moves all Asia to laughter, but
+      would have been ridiculed by Greece and Rome as well. It is impossible to
+      calculate the good effects which such a change would bring about in our
+      social, civil and political arrangements. There would be no necessity for
+      the Salic law: it would be a superfluous truism. In Europe the <i>lady</i>,
+      strictly so-called, is a being who should not exist at all; she should be
+      either a housewife or a girl who hopes to become one; and she should be
+      brought up, not to be arrogant, but to be thrifty and submissive. It is
+      just because there are such people as <i>ladies</i> in Europe that the
+      women of the lower classes, that is to say, the great majority of the sex,
+      are much more unhappy than they are in the East. And even Lord Byron says:
+      <i>Thought of the state of women under the ancient Greeks&mdash;convenient
+      enough. Present state, a remnant of the barbarism of the chivalric and the
+      feudal ages&mdash;artificial and unnatural. They ought to mind home&mdash;and
+      be well fed and clothed&mdash;but not mixed in society. Well educated,
+      too, in religion&mdash;but to read neither poetry nor politics&mdash;
+      nothing but books of piety and cookery. Music&mdash;drawing&mdash;dancing&mdash;also
+      a little gardening and ploughing now and then. I have seen them mending
+      the roads in Epirus with good success. Why not, as well as hay-making and
+      milking</i>?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The laws of marriage prevailing in Europe consider the woman as the
+      equivalent of the man&mdash;start, that is to say, from a wrong position.
+      In our part of the world where monogamy is the rule, to marry means to
+      halve one's rights and double one's duties. Now, when the laws gave women
+      equal rights with man, they ought to have also endowed her with a
+      masculine intellect. But the fact is, that just in proportion as the
+      honors and privileges which the laws accord to women, exceed the amount
+      which nature gives, is there a diminution in the number of women who
+      really participate in these privileges; and all the remainder are deprived
+      of their natural rights by just so much as is given to the others over and
+      above their share. For the institution of monogamy, and the laws of
+      marriage which it entails, bestow upon the woman an unnatural position of
+      privilege, by considering her throughout as the full equivalent of the
+      man, which is by no means the case; and seeing this, men who are shrewd
+      and prudent very often scruple to make so great a sacrifice and to
+      acquiesce in so unfair an arrangement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Consequently, whilst among polygamous nations every woman is provided for,
+      where monogamy prevails the number of married women is limited; and there
+      remains over a large number of women without stay or support, who, in the
+      upper classes, vegetate as useless old maids, and in the lower succumb to
+      hard work for which they are not suited; or else become <i>filles de joie</i>,
+      whose life is as destitute of joy as it is of honor. But under the
+      circumstances they become a necessity; and their position is openly
+      recognized as serving the special end of warding off temptation from those
+      women favored by fate, who have found, or may hope to find, husbands. In
+      London alone there are 80,000 prostitutes. What are they but the women,
+      who, under the institution of monogamy have come off worse? Theirs is a
+      dreadful fate: they are human sacrifices offered up on the altar of
+      monogamy. The women whose wretched position is here described are the
+      inevitable set-off to the European lady with her arrogance and pretension.
+      Polygamy is therefore a real benefit to the female sex if it is taken as a
+      whole. And, from another point of view, there is no true reason why a man
+      whose wife suffers from chronic illness, or remains barren, or has
+      gradually become too old for him, should not take a second. The motives
+      which induce so many people to become converts to Mormonism<a
+      href="#linknote-34" name="linknoteref-34" id="linknoteref-34">34</a>
+      appear to be just those which militate against the unnatural institution
+      of monogamy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-34" id="linknote-34"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      34 (<a href="#linknoteref-34">return</a>)<br /> [ <i>Translator's Note</i>.&mdash;The
+      Mormons have recently given up polygamy, and received the American
+      franchise in its stead.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, the bestowal of unnatural rights upon women has imposed upon
+      them unnatural duties, and, nevertheless, a breach of these duties makes
+      them unhappy. Let me explain. A man may often think that his social or
+      financial position will suffer if he marries, unless he makes some
+      brilliant alliance. His desire will then be to win a woman of his own
+      choice under conditions other than those of marriage, such as will secure
+      her position and that of the children. However fair, reasonable, fit and
+      proper these conditions may be, and the woman consents by foregoing that
+      undue amount of privilege which marriage alone can bestow, she to some
+      extent loses her honor, because marriage is the basis of civic society;
+      and she will lead an unhappy life, since human nature is so constituted
+      that we pay an attention to the opinion of other people which is out of
+      all proportion to its value. On the other hand, if she does not consent,
+      she runs the risk either of having to be given in marriage to a man whom
+      she does not like, or of being landed high and dry as an old maid; for the
+      period during which she has a chance of being settled for life is very
+      short. And in view of this aspect of the institution of monogamy,
+      Thomasius' profoundly learned treatise, <i>de Concubinatu</i>, is well
+      worth reading; for it shows that, amongst all nations and in all ages,
+      down to the Lutheran Reformation, concubinage was permitted; nay, that it
+      was an institution which was to a certain extent actually recognized by
+      law, and attended with no dishonor. It was only the Lutheran Reformation
+      that degraded it from this position. It was seen to be a further
+      justification for the marriage of the clergy; and then, after that, the
+      Catholic Church did not dare to remain behind-hand in the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is no use arguing about polygamy; it must be taken as <i>de facto</i>
+      existing everywhere, and the only question is as to how it shall be
+      regulated. Where are there, then, any real monogamists? We all live, at
+      any rate, for a time, and most of us, always, in polygamy. And so, since
+      every man needs many women, there is nothing fairer than to allow him,
+      nay, to make it incumbent upon him, to provide for many women. This will
+      reduce woman to her true and natural position as a subordinate being; and
+      the <i>lady</i>&mdash;that monster of European civilization and
+      Teutonico-Christian stupidity&mdash;will disappear from the world, leaving
+      only <i>women</i>, but no more <i>unhappy women</i>, of whom Europe is now
+      full.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In India, no woman is ever independent, but in accordance with the law of
+      Mamu,<a href="#linknote-35" name="linknoteref-35" id="linknoteref-35">35</a>
+      she stands under the control of her father, her husband, her brother or
+      her son. It is, to be sure, a revolting thing that a widow should immolate
+      herself upon her husband's funeral pyre; but it is also revolting that she
+      should spend her husband's money with her paramours&mdash;the money for
+      which he toiled his whole life long, in the consoling belief that he was
+      providing for his children. Happy are those who have kept the middle
+      course&mdash;<i>medium tenuere beati</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-35" id="linknote-35"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      35 (<a href="#linknoteref-35">return</a>)<br /> [ Ch. V., v. 148.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first love of a mother for her child is, with the lower animals as
+      with men, of a purely <i>instinctive</i> character, and so it ceases when
+      the child is no longer in a physically helpless condition. After that, the
+      first love should give way to one that is based on habit and reason; but
+      this often fails to make its appearance, especially where the mother did
+      not love the father. The love of a father for his child is of a different
+      order, and more likely to last; because it has its foundation in the fact
+      that in the child he recognizes his own inner self; that is to say, his
+      love for it is metaphysical in its origin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In almost all nations, whether of the ancient or the modern world, even
+      amongst the Hottentots,<a href="#linknote-36" name="linknoteref-36"
+      id="linknoteref-36">36</a> property is inherited by the male descendants
+      alone; it is only in Europe that a departure has taken place; but not
+      amongst the nobility, however. That the property which has cost men long
+      years of toil and effort, and been won with so much difficulty, should
+      afterwards come into the hands of women, who then, in their lack of
+      reason, squander it in a short time, or otherwise fool it away, is a
+      grievance and a wrong as serious as it is common, which should be
+      prevented by limiting the right of women to inherit. In my opinion, the
+      best arrangement would be that by which women, whether widows or
+      daughters, should never receive anything beyond the interest for life on
+      property secured by mortgage, and in no case the property itself, or the
+      capital, except where all male descendants fail. The people who make money
+      are men, not women; and it follows from this that women are neither
+      justified in having unconditional possession of it, nor fit persons to be
+      entrusted with its administration. <a href="#linknote-37"
+      name="linknoteref-37" id="linknoteref-37">37</a>When wealth, in any true
+      sense of the word, that is to say, funds, houses or land, is to go to them
+      as an inheritance they should never be allowed the free disposition of it.
+      In their case a guardian should always be appointed; and hence they should
+      never be given the free control of their own children, wherever it can be
+      avoided. The vanity of women, even though it should not prove to be
+      greater than that of men, has this much danger in it, that it takes an
+      entirely material direction. They are vain, I mean, of their personal
+      beauty, and then of finery, show and magnificence. That is just why they
+      are so much in their element in society. It is this, too, which makes them
+      so inclined to be extravagant, all the more as their reasoning power is
+      low. Accordingly we find an ancient writer describing woman as in general
+      of an extravagant nature&mdash;[Greek: Gynae to synolon esti dapanaeron
+      Physei][2] But with men vanity often takes the direction of non-material
+      advantages, such as intellect, learning, courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-36" id="linknote-36"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      36 (<a href="#linknoteref-36">return</a>)<br /> [ Leroy, <i>Lettres
+      philosophiques sur l'intelligence et la perfectibilité des animaux, avec
+      quelques lettres sur l'homme</i>, p. 298, Paris, 1802.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-37" id="linknote-37"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      37 (<a href="#linknoteref-37">return</a>)<br /> [ Brunck's <i>Gnomici
+      poetae graeci</i>, v. 115.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the <i>Politics</i><a href="#linknote-38" name="linknoteref-38"
+      id="linknoteref-38">38</a> Aristotle explains the great disadvantage which
+      accrued to the Spartans from the fact that they conceded too much to their
+      women, by giving them the right of inheritance and dower, and a great
+      amount of independence; and he shows how much this contributed to Sparta's
+      fall. May it not be the case in France that the influence of women, which
+      went on increasing steadily from the time of Louis XIII., was to blame for
+      that gradual corruption of the Court and the Government, which brought
+      about the Revolution of 1789, of which all subsequent disturbances have
+      been the fruit? However that may be, the false position which women
+      occupy, demonstrated as it is, in the most glaring way, by the institution
+      of the <i>lady</i>, is a fundamental defect in our social scheme, and this
+      defect, proceeding from the very heart of it, must spread its baneful
+      influence in all directions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-38" id="linknote-38"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      38 (<a href="#linknoteref-38">return</a>)<br /> [ Bk. I, ch. 9.]
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      That woman is by nature meant to obey may be seen by the fact that every
+      woman who is placed in the unnatural position of complete independence,
+      immediately attaches herself to some man, by whom she allows herself to be
+      guided and ruled. It is because she needs a lord and master. If she is
+      young, it will be a lover; if she is old, a priest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ON NOISE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Kant wrote a treatise on <i>The Vital Powers</i>. I should prefer to write
+      a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the
+      form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily
+      torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true&mdash;nay, a
+      great many people&mdash;who smile at such things, because they are not
+      sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are also not
+      sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any
+      kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of
+      their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand,
+      noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost
+      all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are
+      recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance,
+      Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer
+      has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of an
+      opportunity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large
+      diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a
+      whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its
+      strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as
+      soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and
+      drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its
+      power of concentration&mdash;of bringing all its strength to bear upon one
+      theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the
+      rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to
+      this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such
+      an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in
+      upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that
+      violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much
+      put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all
+      nations in Europe lays down the rule, <i>Never Interrupt</i>! as the
+      eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of
+      interruption. It is not only an interruption, but also a disruption of
+      thought. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be
+      so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but
+      constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I
+      become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the
+      labor of thinking&mdash;just as though I were trying to walk with a weight
+      on my foot. At last I find out what it is. Let me now, however, pass from
+      genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is
+      the cracking of whips&mdash;a truly infernal thing when it is done in the
+      narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful
+      life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That this cracking
+      of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way
+      how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with
+      anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at
+      this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of
+      reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must
+      disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some
+      sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is
+      woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the
+      executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so
+      shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips;
+      you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the
+      brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same
+      length of time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really
+      cannot see why a fellow who is taking away a wagon-load of gravel or dung
+      should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may
+      happen to be springing up in ten thousand heads&mdash;the number he will
+      disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town.
+      Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to
+      hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it
+      exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet
+      thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other
+      way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all
+      noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This
+      cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its
+      aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but
+      through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the
+      sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all.
+      The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of
+      this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver,
+      while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he
+      were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have
+      much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to
+      crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its
+      presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For
+      it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are
+      sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that
+      we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are
+      furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure
+      wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the
+      community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands.
+      That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and
+      iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice
+      to the effect that every lash shall have a knot at the end of it. There
+      can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the
+      classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is
+      mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the
+      narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or
+      cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his
+      might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good
+      blows with a stick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to
+      advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never
+      persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than
+      what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking
+      along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away
+      incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of
+      the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs
+      of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the
+      thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the
+      slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of
+      respect? Carters, porters, messengers&mdash;these are the beasts of burden
+      amongst mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly,
+      indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand
+      in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise.
+      How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been
+      lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I
+      should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble
+      association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will
+      make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take
+      example by it and follow suit.<a href="#linknote-39" name="linknoteref-39"
+      id="linknoteref-39">39</a> Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of
+      them<a href="#linknote-40" name="linknoteref-40" id="linknoteref-40">40</a>:
+      <i>For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with</i>. That
+      they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a
+      noise than other people&mdash;they would deny it if you asked them&mdash;but
+      that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it
+      does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or
+      thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is
+      their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise&mdash;the
+      slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing&mdash;is
+      direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of
+      thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should
+      ever think for mere noise&mdash;to mention one form of it, the way in
+      which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-39" id="linknote-39"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      39 (<a href="#linknoteref-39">return</a>)<br /> [ According to a notice
+      issued by the Society for the Protection of Animals in Munich, the
+      superfluous whipping and the cracking of whips were, in December, 1858,
+      positively forbidden in Nuremberg.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linknote-40" id="linknote-40"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="foot">
+      40 (<a href="#linknoteref-40">return</a>)<br /> [ In <i>Up the Rhine</i>.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this
+      chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer
+      to a poetical epistle in <i>terzo rimo</i> by the famous painter Bronzino,
+      entitled <i>De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini</i>. It gives a detailed
+      description of the torture to which people are put by the various noises
+      of a small Italian town. Written in a tragicomic style, it is very
+      amusing. The epistle may be found in <i>Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino
+      ed altri</i>, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrecht in 1771.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      A FEW PARABLES.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In a field of ripening corn I came to a place which had been trampled down
+      by some ruthless foot; and as I glanced amongst the countless stalks,
+      every one of them alike, standing there so erect and bearing the full
+      weight of the ear, I saw a multitude of different flowers, red and blue
+      and violet. How pretty they looked as they grew there so naturally with
+      their little foliage! But, thought I, they are quite useless; they bear no
+      fruit; they are mere weeds, suffered to remain only because there is no
+      getting rid of them. And yet, but for these flowers, there would be
+      nothing to charm the eye in that wilderness of stalks. They are emblematic
+      of poetry and art, which, in civic life&mdash;so severe, but still useful
+      and not without its fruit&mdash;play the same part as flowers in the corn.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      There are some really beautifully landscapes in the world, but the human
+      figures in them are poor, and you had not better look at them.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      The fly should be used as the symbol of impertinence and audacity; for
+      whilst all other animals shun man more than anything else, and run away
+      even before he comes near them, the fly lights upon his very nose.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Two Chinamen traveling in Europe went to the theatre for the first time.
+      One of them did nothing but study the machinery, and he succeeded in
+      finding out how it was worked. The other tried to get at the meaning of
+      the piece in spite of his ignorance of the language. Here you have the
+      Astronomer and the Philosopher.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Wisdom which is only theoretical and never put into practice, is like a
+      double rose; its color and perfume are delightful, but it withers away and
+      leaves no seed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No rose without a thorn. Yes, but many a thorn without a rose.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      A wide-spreading apple-tree stood in full bloom, and behind it a straight
+      fir raised its dark and tapering head. <i>Look at the thousands of gay
+      blossoms which cover me everywhere</i>, said the apple-tree; <i>what have
+      you to show in comparison? Dark-green needles! That is true</i>, replied
+      the fir, <i>but when winter comes, you will be bared of your glory; and I
+      shall be as I am now</i>.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Once, as I was botanizing under an oak, I found amongst a number of other
+      plants of similar height one that was dark in color, with tightly closed
+      leaves and a stalk that was very straight and stiff. When I touched it, it
+      said to me in firm tones: <i>Let me alone; I am not for your collection,
+      like these plants to which Nature has given only a single year of life. I
+      am a little oak</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it is with a man whose influence is to last for hundreds of years. As a
+      child, as a youth, often even as a full-grown man, nay, his whole life
+      long, he goes about among his fellows, looking like them and seemingly as
+      unimportant. But let him alone; he will not die. Time will come and bring
+      those who know how to value him.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      The man who goes up in a balloon does not feel as though he were
+      ascending; he only sees the earth sinking deeper under him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is a mystery which only those will understand who feel the truth of
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Your estimation of a man's size will be affected by the distance at which
+      you stand from him, but in two entirely opposite ways according as it is
+      his physical or his mental stature that you are considering. The one will
+      seem smaller, the farther off you move; the other, greater.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Nature covers all her works with a varnish of beauty, like the tender
+      bloom that is breathed, as it were, on the surface of a peach or a plum.
+      Painters and poets lay themselves out to take off this varnish, to store
+      it up, and give it us to be enjoyed at our leisure. We drink deep of this
+      beauty long before we enter upon life itself; and when afterwards we come
+      to see the works of Nature for ourselves, the varnish is gone: the artists
+      have used it up and we have enjoyed it in advance. Thus it is that the
+      world so often appears harsh and devoid of charm, nay, actually repulsive.
+      It were better to leave us to discover the varnish for ourselves. This
+      would mean that we should not enjoy it all at once and in large
+      quantities; we should have no finished pictures, no perfect poems; but we
+      should look at all things in that genial and pleasing light in which even
+      now a child of Nature sometimes sees them&mdash;some one who has not
+      anticipated his aesthetic pleasures by the help of art, or taken the
+      charms of life too early.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      The Cathedral in Mayence is so shut in by the houses that are built round
+      about it, that there is no one spot from which you can see it as a whole.
+      This is symbolic of everything great or beautiful in the world. It ought
+      to exist for its own sake alone, but before very long it is misused to
+      serve alien ends. People come from all directions wanting to find in it
+      support and maintenance for themselves; they stand in the way and spoil
+      its effect. To be sure, there is nothing surprising in this, for in a
+      world of need and imperfection everything is seized upon which can be used
+      to satisfy want. Nothing is exempt from this service, no, not even those
+      very things which arise only when need and want are for a moment lost
+      sight of&mdash;the beautiful and the true, sought for their own sakes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is especially illustrated and corroborated in the case of
+      institutions&mdash;whether great or small, wealthy or poor, founded, no
+      matter in what century or in what land, to maintain and advance human
+      knowledge, and generally to afford help to those intellectual efforts
+      which ennoble the race. Wherever these institutions may be, it is not long
+      before people sneak up to them under the pretence of wishing to further
+      those special ends, while they are really led on by the desire to secure
+      the emoluments which have been left for their furtherance, and thus to
+      satisfy certain coarse and brutal instincts of their own. Thus it is that
+      we come to have so many charlatans in every branch of knowledge. The
+      charlatan takes very different shapes according to circumstances; but at
+      bottom he is a man who cares nothing about knowledge for its own sake, and
+      only strives to gain the semblance of it that he may use it for his own
+      personal ends, which are always selfish and material.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of the
+      weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he crushes both
+      them and himself. Or he is like Gulliver at Lilliput, overwhelmed by an
+      enormous number of little men.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      A mother gave her children Aesop's fables to read, in the hope of
+      educating and improving their minds; but they very soon brought the book
+      back, and the eldest, wise beyond his years, delivered himself as follows:
+      <i>This is no book for us; it's much too childish and stupid. You can't
+      make us believe that foxes and wolves and ravens are able to talk; we've
+      got beyond stories of that kind</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In these young hopefuls you have the enlightened Rationalists of the
+      future.
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in
+      winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills, they
+      were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together again, when
+      just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of huddling and
+      dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off by remaining at a
+      little distance from one another. In the same way the need of society
+      drives the human porcupines together, only to be mutually repelled by the
+      many prickly and disagreeable qualities of their nature. The moderate
+      distance which they at last discover to be the only tolerable condition of
+      intercourse, is the code of politeness and fine manners; and those who
+      transgress it are roughly told&mdash;in the English phrase&mdash;<i>to
+      keep their distance</i>. By this arrangement the mutual need of warmth is
+      only very moderately satisfied; but then people do not get pricked. A man
+      who has some heat in himself prefers to remain outside, where he will
+      neither prick other people nor get pricked himself.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in
+Pessimism, by Arthur Schopenhauer, Translated by T. Bailey Saunders
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism
+
+Author: Arthur Schopenhauer
+
+Release Date: January 17, 2004  [eBook #10732]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER;
+STUDIES IN PESSIMISM***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER: STUDIES IN PESSIMISM
+
+TRANSLATED BY
+
+T. BAILEY SAUNDERS, M.A.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD
+  ON THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE
+  ON SUICIDE
+  IMMORTALITY: A DIALOGUE
+  PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
+  ON EDUCATION
+  OF WOMEN
+  ON NOISE
+  A FEW PARABLES
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+The Essays here presented form a further selection from Schopenhauer's
+_Parerga_, brought together under a title which is not to be found
+in the original, and does not claim to apply to every chapter in
+the volume. The first essay is, in the main, a rendering of the
+philosopher's remarks under the heading of _Nachtraege zur Lehre vom
+Leiden der Welt_, together with certain parts of another section
+entitled _Nachtraege zur Lehre von der Bejahung und Verneinung des
+Willens zum Leben_. Such omissions as I have made are directed chiefly
+by the desire to avoid repeating arguments already familiar to readers
+of the other volumes in this series. The _Dialogue on Immortality_
+sums up views expressed at length in the philosopher's chief work, and
+treated again in the _Parerga_. The _Psychological Observations_ in
+this and the previous volume practically exhaust the chapter of the
+original which bears this title.
+
+The essay on _Women_ must not be taken in jest. It expresses
+Schopenhauer's serious convictions; and, as a penetrating observer
+of the faults of humanity, he may be allowed a hearing on a question
+which is just now receiving a good deal of attention among us.
+
+T.B.S.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE SUFFERINGS OF THE WORLD.
+
+
+Unless _suffering_ is the direct and immediate object of life, our
+existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon
+the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and
+originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as
+serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate
+misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional;
+but misfortune in general is the rule.
+
+I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of
+philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is
+just what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. Leibnitz is
+particularly concerned to defend this absurdity; and he seeks to
+strengthen his position by using a palpable and paltry sophism.[1]
+It is the good which is negative; in other words, happiness and
+satisfaction always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain
+brought to an end.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_, cf. _Theod_, sec. 153.--Leibnitz
+argued that evil is a negative quality--_i.e_., the absence of good; and
+that its active and seemingly positive character is an incidental and
+not an essential part of its nature. Cold, he said, is only the absence
+of the power of heat, and the active power of expansion in freezing
+water is an incidental and not an essential part of the nature of cold.
+The fact is, that the power of expansion in freezing water is really an
+increase of repulsion amongst its molecules; and Schopenhauer is quite
+right in calling the whole argument a sophism.]
+
+This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not
+nearly so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.
+
+The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or,
+at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader
+wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare
+the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in
+eating the other.
+
+The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will
+be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than
+yourself; and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But
+what an awful fate this means for mankind as a whole!
+
+We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of
+the butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey.
+So it is that in our good days we are all unconscious of the evil Fate
+may have presently in store for us--sickness, poverty, mutilation,
+loss of sight or reason.
+
+No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is
+continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always
+coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time
+stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of
+boredom.
+
+But misfortune has its uses; for, as our bodily frame would burst
+asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere was removed, so, if the
+lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if
+everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen
+with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present
+the spectacle of unbridled folly--nay, they would go mad. And I may
+say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is
+necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is
+unstable and will not go straight.
+
+Certain it is that _work, worry, labor_ and _trouble_, form the lot of
+almost all men their whole life long. But if all wishes were fulfilled
+as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what would
+they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and
+ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained
+his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of
+boredom or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and
+murders; so that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on
+itself than it has now to accept at the hands of Nature.
+
+In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like
+children in a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there
+in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a
+blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we
+foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent
+prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all
+unconscious of what their sentence means. Nevertheless, every man
+desires to reach old age; in other words, a state of life of which it
+may be said: "It is bad to-day, and it will be worse to-morrow; and so
+on till the worst of all."
+
+If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery,
+pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course,
+you will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little
+as on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life;
+and if, here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.
+
+Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing
+the blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even though
+things have gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the more
+clearly you will feel that, on the whole, life is _a disappointment,
+nay, a cheat_.
+
+If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are
+old, after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling
+they will have at the sight of each other will be one of complete
+disappointment at life as a whole; because their thoughts will be
+carried back to that earlier time when life seemed so fair as it
+lay spread out before them in the rosy light of dawn, promised so
+much--and then performed so little. This feeling will so completely
+predominate over every other that they will not even consider it
+necessary to give it words; but on either side it will be silently
+assumed, and form the ground-work of all they have to talk about.
+
+He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits
+some time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the
+performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to
+be seen only once; and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to
+deceive, their effect is gone.
+
+While no man is much to be envied for his lot, there are countless
+numbers whose fate is to be deplored.
+
+Life is a task to be done. It is a fine thing to say _defunctus est_;
+it means that the man has done his task.
+
+If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason
+alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather
+have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the
+burden of existence? or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose
+that burden upon it in cold blood.
+
+I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless--because
+I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the
+Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers
+in peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to
+the lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham
+philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please,
+and you will get it. Your University professors are bound to preach
+optimism; and it is an easy and agreeable task to upset their
+theories.
+
+I have reminded the reader that every state of welfare, every feeling
+of satisfaction, is negative in its character; that is to say, it
+consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of
+existence. It follows, therefore, that the happiness of any given life
+is to be measured, not by its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to
+which it has been free from suffering--from positive evil. If this
+is the true standpoint, the lower animals appear to enjoy a happier
+destiny than man. Let us examine the matter a little more closely.
+
+However varied the forms that human happiness and misery may take,
+leading a man to seek the one and shun the other, the material basis
+of it all is bodily pleasure or bodily pain. This basis is very
+restricted: it is simply health, food, protection from wet and cold,
+the satisfaction of the sexual instinct; or else the absence of these
+things. Consequently, as far as real physical pleasure is concerned,
+the man is not better off than the brute, except in so far as the
+higher possibilities of his nervous system make him more sensitive to
+every kind of pleasure, but also, it must be remembered, to every kind
+of pain. But then compared with the brute, how much stronger are the
+passions aroused in him! what an immeasurable difference there is in
+the depth and vehemence of his emotions!--and yet, in the one case,
+as in the other, all to produce the same result in the end: namely,
+health, food, clothing, and so on.
+
+The chief source of all this passion is that thought for what is
+absent and future, which, with man, exercises such a powerful
+influence upon all he does. It is this that is the real origin of
+his cares, his hopes, his fears--emotions which affect him much
+more deeply than could ever be the case with those present joys
+and sufferings to which the brute is confined. In his powers of
+reflection, memory and foresight, man possesses, as it were, a machine
+for condensing and storing up his pleasures and his sorrows. But the
+brute has nothing of the kind; whenever it is in pain, it is as though
+it were suffering for the first time, even though the same thing
+should have previously happened to it times out of number. It has
+no power of summing up its feelings. Hence its careless and placid
+temper: how much it is to be envied! But in man reflection comes in,
+with all the emotions to which it gives rise; and taking up the same
+elements of pleasure and pain which are common to him and the brute,
+it develops his susceptibility to happiness and misery to such a
+degree that, at one moment the man is brought in an instant to a state
+of delight that may even prove fatal, at another to the depths of
+despair and suicide.
+
+If we carry our analysis a step farther, we shall find that, in order
+to increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number
+and pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much
+more difficult to satisfy than those of the brute. Hence luxury in all
+its forms; delicate food, the use of tobacco and opium, spirituous
+liquors, fine clothes, and the thousand and one things than he
+considers necessary to his existence.
+
+And above and beyond all this, there is a separate and peculiar source
+of pleasure, and consequently of pain, which man has established for
+himself, also as the result of using his powers of reflection; and
+this occupies him out of all proportion to its value, nay, almost more
+than all his other interests put together--I mean ambition and the
+feeling of honor and shame; in plain words, what he thinks about the
+opinion other people have of him. Taking a thousand forms, often very
+strange ones, this becomes the goal of almost all the efforts he makes
+that are not rooted in physical pleasure or pain. It is true that
+besides the sources of pleasure which he has in common with the
+brute, man has the pleasures of the mind as well. These admit of many
+gradations, from the most innocent trifling or the merest talk up to
+the highest intellectual achievements; but there is the accompanying
+boredom to be set against them on the side of suffering. Boredom is
+a form of suffering unknown to brutes, at any rate in their natural
+state; it is only the very cleverest of them who show faint traces
+of it when they are domesticated; whereas in the case of man it has
+become a downright scourge. The crowd of miserable wretches whose one
+aim in life is to fill their purses but never to put anything into
+their heads, offers a singular instance of this torment of boredom.
+Their wealth becomes a punishment by delivering them up to misery of
+having nothing to do; for, to escape it, they will rush about in all
+directions, traveling here, there and everywhere. No sooner do they
+arrive in a place than they are anxious to know what amusements it
+affords; just as though they were beggars asking where they could
+receive a dole! Of a truth, need and boredom are the two poles
+of human life. Finally, I may mention that as regards the sexual
+relation, a man is committed to a peculiar arrangement which drives
+him obstinately to choose one person. This feeling grows, now and
+then, into a more or less passionate love,[1] which is the source of
+little pleasure and much suffering.
+
+[Footnote 1: I have treated this subject at length in a special
+chapter of the second volume of my chief work.]
+
+It is, however, a wonderful thing that the mere addition of thought
+should serve to raise such a vast and lofty structure of human
+happiness and misery; resting, too, on the same narrow basis of joy
+and sorrow as man holds in common with the brute, and exposing him
+to such violent emotions, to so many storms of passion, so much
+convulsion of feeling, that what he has suffered stands written and
+may be read in the lines on his face. And yet, when all is told, he
+has been struggling ultimately for the very same things as the brute
+has attained, and with an incomparably smaller expenditure of passion
+and pain.
+
+But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in
+human life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of
+life are made much worse for man by the fact that death is something
+very real to him. The brute flies from death instinctively without
+really knowing what it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it
+in the way natural to a man, who has this prospect always before his
+eyes. So that even if only a few brutes die a natural death, and most
+of them live only just long enough to transmit their species, and
+then, if not earlier, become the prey of some other animal,--whilst
+man, on the other hand, manages to make so-called natural death the
+rule, to which, however, there are a good many exceptions,--the
+advantage is on the side of the brute, for the reason stated above.
+But the fact is that man attains the natural term of years just as
+seldom as the brute; because the unnatural way in which he lives, and
+the strain of work and emotion, lead to a degeneration of the race;
+and so his goal is not often reached.
+
+The brute is much more content with mere existence than man; the plant
+is wholly so; and man finds satisfaction in it just in proportion as
+he is dull and obtuse. Accordingly, the life of the brute carries less
+of sorrow with it, but also less of joy, when compared with the life
+of man; and while this may be traced, on the one side, to freedom from
+the torment of _care_ and _anxiety_, it is also due to the fact
+that _hope_, in any real sense, is unknown to the brute. It is thus
+deprived of any share in that which gives us the most and best of our
+joys and pleasures, the mental anticipation of a happy future, and the
+inspiriting play of phantasy, both of which we owe to our power of
+imagination. If the brute is free from care, it is also, in this
+sense, without hope; in either case, because its consciousness is
+limited to the present moment, to what it can actually see before
+it. The brute is an embodiment of present impulses, and hence what
+elements of fear and hope exist in its nature--and they do not go very
+far--arise only in relation to objects that lie before it and within
+reach of those impulses: whereas a man's range of vision embraces the
+whole of his life, and extends far into the past and future.
+
+Following upon this, there is one respect in which brutes show real
+wisdom when compared with us--I mean, their quiet, placid enjoyment of
+the present moment. The tranquillity of mind which this seems to give
+them often puts us to shame for the many times we allow our thoughts
+and our cares to make us restless and discontented. And, in fact,
+those pleasures of hope and anticipation which I have been mentioning
+are not to be had for nothing. The delight which a man has in hoping
+for and looking forward to some special satisfaction is a part of the
+real pleasure attaching to it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards
+deducted; for the more we look forward to anything, the less
+satisfaction we find in it when it comes. But the brute's enjoyment
+is not anticipated, and therefore, suffers no deduction; so that the
+actual pleasure of the moment comes to it whole and unimpaired. In the
+same way, too, evil presses upon the brute only with its own intrinsic
+weight; whereas with us the fear of its coming often makes its burden
+ten times more grievous.
+
+It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up
+entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight
+we take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified,
+and in some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that
+is free from trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and
+preoccupations, mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless
+creature, misuses this quality of the brute to be more content than we
+are with mere existence, and often works it to such an extent that he
+allows the brute absolutely nothing more than mere, bare life. The
+bird which was made so that it might rove over half of the world, he
+shuts up into the space of a cubic foot, there to die a slow death in
+longing and crying for freedom; for in a cage it does not sing for
+the pleasure of it. And when I see how man misuses the dog, his best
+friend; how he ties up this intelligent animal with a chain, I feel
+the deepest sympathy with the brute and burning indignation against
+its master.
+
+We shall see later that by taking a very high standpoint it is
+possible to justify the sufferings of mankind. But this justification
+cannot apply to animals, whose sufferings, while in a great measure
+brought about by men, are often considerable even apart from their
+agency.[1] And so we are forced to ask, Why and for what purpose does
+all this torment and agony exist? There is nothing here to give the
+will pause; it is not free to deny itself and so obtain redemption.
+There is only one consideration that may serve to explain the
+sufferings of animals. It is this: that the will to live, which
+underlies the whole world of phenomena, must, in their case satisfy
+its cravings by feeding upon itself. This it does by forming a
+gradation of phenomena, every one of which exists at the expense of
+another. I have shown, however, that the capacity for suffering is
+less in animals than in man. Any further explanation that may be given
+of their fate will be in the nature of hypothesis, if not actually
+mythical in its character; and I may leave the reader to speculate
+upon the matter for himself.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. _Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol. ii. p. 404.]
+
+_Brahma_ is said to have produced the world by a kind of fall or
+mistake; and in order to atone for his folly, he is bound to remain
+in it himself until he works out his redemption. As an account of the
+origin of things, that is admirable! According to the doctrines
+of _Buddhism_, the world came into being as the result of some
+inexplicable disturbance in the heavenly calm of Nirvana, that blessed
+state obtained by expiation, which had endured so long a time--the
+change taking place by a kind of fatality. This explanation must be
+understood as having at bottom some moral bearing; although it is
+illustrated by an exactly parallel theory in the domain of physical
+science, which places the origin of the sun in a primitive streak of
+mist, formed one knows not how. Subsequently, by a series of moral
+errors, the world became gradually worse and worse--true of the
+physical orders as well--until it assumed the dismal aspect it wears
+to-day. Excellent! The _Greeks_ looked upon the world and the gods as
+the work of an inscrutable necessity. A passable explanation: we may
+be content with it until we can get a better. Again, _Ormuzd_ and
+_Ahriman_ are rival powers, continually at war. That is not bad. But
+that a God like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and
+woe, out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should
+then have clapped his hands in praise of his own work, and declared
+everything to be very good--that will not do at all! In its
+explanation of the origin of the world, Judaism is inferior to any
+other form of religious doctrine professed by a civilized nation;
+and it is quite in keeping with this that it is the only one which
+presents no trace whatever of any belief in the immortality of the
+soul.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Parerga_, vol. i. pp. 139 _et seq_.]
+
+Even though Leibnitz' contention, that this is the best of all
+possible worlds, were correct, that would not justify God in having
+created it. For he is the Creator not of the world only, but of
+possibility itself; and, therefore, he ought to have so ordered
+possibility as that it would admit of something better.
+
+There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this
+world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and, at the
+same time, all-powerful Being; firstly, the misery which abounds in
+it everywhere; and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest
+product, man, who is a burlesque of what he should be. These things
+cannot be reconciled with any such belief. On the contrary, they are
+just the facts which support what I have been saying; they are our
+authority for viewing the world as the outcome of our own misdeeds,
+and therefore, as something that had better not have been. Whilst,
+under the former hypothesis, they amount to a bitter accusation
+against the Creator, and supply material for sarcasm; under the latter
+they form an indictment against our own nature, our own will, and
+teach us a lesson of humility. They lead us to see that, like the
+children of a libertine, we come into the world with the burden of sin
+upon us; and that it is only through having continually to atone for
+this sin that our existence is so miserable, and that its end is
+death.
+
+There is nothing more certain than the general truth that it is the
+grievous _sin of the world_ which has produced the grievous _suffering
+of the world_. I am not referring here to the physical connection
+between these two things lying in the realm of experience; my meaning
+is metaphysical. Accordingly, the sole thing that reconciles me to the
+Old Testament is the story of the Fall. In my eyes, it is the only
+metaphysical truth in that book, even though it appears in the form of
+an allegory. There seems to me no better explanation of our existence
+than that it is the result of some false step, some sin of which
+we are paying the penalty. I cannot refrain from recommending the
+thoughtful reader a popular, but at the same time, profound treatise
+on this subject by Claudius[1] which exhibits the essentially
+pessimistic spirit of Christianity. It is entitled: _Cursed is the
+ground for thy sake_.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--Matthias Claudius (1740-1815), a
+popular poet, and friend of Klopstock, Herder and Leasing. He edited
+the _Wandsbecker Bote_, in the fourth part of which appeared the
+treatise mentioned above. He generally wrote under the pseudonym of
+_Asmus_, and Schopenhauer often refers to him by this name.]
+
+Between the ethics of the Greeks and the ethics of the Hindoos, there
+is a glaring contrast. In the one case (with the exception, it must be
+confessed, of Plato), the object of ethics is to enable a man to lead
+a happy life; in the other, it is to free and redeem him from life
+altogether--as is directly stated in the very first words of the
+_Sankhya Karika_.
+
+Allied with this is the contrast between the Greek and the Christian
+idea of death. It is strikingly presented in a visible form on a fine
+antique sarcophagus in the gallery of Florence, which exhibits, in
+relief, the whole series of ceremonies attending a wedding in ancient
+times, from the formal offer to the evening when Hymen's torch lights
+the happy couple home. Compare with that the Christian coffin,
+draped in mournful black and surmounted with a crucifix! How much
+significance there is in these two ways of finding comfort in death.
+They are opposed to each other, but each is right. The one points to
+the _affirmation_ of the will to live, which remains sure of life for
+all time, however rapidly its forms may change. The other, in the
+symbol of suffering and death, points to the _denial_ of the will to
+live, to redemption from this world, the domain of death and devil.
+And in the question between the affirmation and the denial of the will
+to live, Christianity is in the last resort right.
+
+The contrast which the New Testament presents when compared with the
+Old, according to the ecclesiastical view of the matter, is just that
+existing between my ethical system and the moral philosophy of Europe.
+The Old Testament represents man as under the dominion of Law, in
+which, however, there is no redemption. The New Testament declares
+Law to have failed, frees man from its dominion,[1] and in its stead
+preaches the kingdom of grace, to be won by faith, love of neighbor
+and entire sacrifice of self. This is the path of redemption from the
+evil of the world. The spirit of the New Testament is undoubtedly
+asceticism, however your protestants and rationalists may twist it to
+suit their purpose. Asceticism is the denial of the will to live; and
+the transition from the Old Testament to the New, from the dominion
+of Law to that of Faith, from justification by works to redemption
+through the Mediator, from the domain of sin and death to eternal life
+in Christ, means, when taken in its real sense, the transition from
+the merely moral virtues to the denial of the will to live. My
+philosophy shows the metaphysical foundation of justice and the love
+of mankind, and points to the goal to which these virtues necessarily
+lead, if they are practised in perfection. At the same time it is
+candid in confessing that a man must turn his back upon the world, and
+that the denial of the will to live is the way of redemption. It is
+therefore really at one with the spirit of the New Testament, whilst
+all other systems are couched in the spirit of the Old; that is
+to say, theoretically as well as practically, their result is
+Judaism--mere despotic theism. In this sense, then, my doctrine might
+be called the only true Christian philosophy--however paradoxical a
+statement this may seem to people who take superficial views instead
+of penetrating to the heart of the matter.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. Romans vii; Galatians ii, iii.]
+
+If you want a safe compass to guide you through life, and to banish
+all doubt as to the right way of looking at it, you cannot do better
+than accustom yourself to regard this world as a penitentiary, a
+sort of a penal colony, or [Greek: ergastaerion] as the earliest
+philosopher called it.[1] Amongst the Christian Fathers, Origen, with
+praiseworthy courage, took this view,[2] which is further justified by
+certain objective theories of life. I refer, not to my own philosophy
+alone, but to the wisdom of all ages, as expressed in Brahmanism and
+Buddhism, and in the sayings of Greek philosophers like Empedocles and
+Pythagoras; as also by Cicero, in his remark that the wise men of old
+used to teach that we come into this world to pay the penalty of crime
+committed in another state of existence--a doctrine which formed
+part of the initiation into the mysteries.[3] And Vanini--whom his
+contemporaries burned, finding that an easier task than to confute
+him--puts the same thing in a very forcible way. _Man_, he says, _is
+so full of every kind of misery that, were it not repugnant to the
+Christian religion, I should venture to affirm that if evil spirits
+exist at all, they have posed into human form and are now atoning for
+their crimes_.[4] And true Christianity--using the word in its right
+sense--also regards our existence as the consequence of sin and error.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. L. iii, c, 3, p. 399.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Augustine _de civitate Dei_., L. xi. c. 23.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Cf. _Fragmenta de philosophia_.]
+
+[Footnote: 4: _De admirandis naturae arcanis_; dial L. p. 35.]
+
+If you accustom yourself to this view of life you will regulate your
+expectations accordingly, and cease to look upon all its disagreeable
+incidents, great and small, its sufferings, its worries, its misery,
+as anything unusual or irregular; nay, you will find that everything
+is as it should be, in a world where each of us pays the penalty of
+existence in his own peculiar way. Amongst the evils of a penal colony
+is the society of those who form it; and if the reader is worthy of
+better company, he will need no words from me to remind him of what he
+has to put up with at present. If he has a soul above the common, or
+if he is a man of genius, he will occasionally feel like some noble
+prisoner of state, condemned to work in the galleys with common
+criminals; and he will follow his example and try to isolate himself.
+
+In general, however, it should be said that this view of life will
+enable us to contemplate the so-called imperfections of the great
+majority of men, their moral and intellectual deficiencies and the
+resulting base type of countenance, without any surprise, to say
+nothing of indignation; for we shall never cease to reflect where we
+are, and that the men about us are beings conceived and born in
+sin, and living to atone for it. That is what Christianity means in
+speaking of the sinful nature of man.
+
+_Pardon's the word to all_! [1] Whatever folly men commit, be
+their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us exercise
+forbearance; remembering that when these faults appear in others, it
+is our follies and vices that we behold. They are the shortcomings of
+humanity, to which we belong; whose faults, one and all, we share;
+yes, even those very faults at which we now wax so indignant, merely
+because they have not yet appeared in ourselves. They are faults that
+do not lie on the surface. But they exist down there in the depths of
+our nature; and should anything call them forth, they will come and
+show themselves, just as we now see them in others. One man, it
+is true, may have faults that are absent in his fellow; and it is
+undeniable that the sum total of bad qualities is in some cases very
+large; for the difference of individuality between man and man passes
+all measure.
+
+[Footnote 1: "Cymbeline," Act v. Sc. 5.]
+
+In fact, the conviction that the world and man is something that had
+better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards
+one another. Nay, from this point of view, we might well consider the
+proper form of address to be, not _Monsieur, Sir, mein Herr_, but _my
+fellow-sufferer, Soci malorum, compagnon de miseres_! This may perhaps
+sound strange, but it is in keeping with the facts; it puts others in
+a right light; and it reminds us of that which is after all the most
+necessary thing in life--the tolerance, patience, regard, and love
+of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore,
+every man owes to his fellow.
+
+
+
+
+THE VANITY OF EXISTENCE.
+
+
+This vanity finds expression in the whole way in which things exist;
+in the infinite nature of Time and Space, as opposed to the finite
+nature of the individual in both; in the ever-passing present moment
+as the only mode of actual existence; in the interdependence and
+relativity of all things; in continual Becoming without ever Being; in
+constant wishing and never being satisfied; in the long battle
+which forms the history of life, where every effort is checked by
+difficulties, and stopped until they are overcome. Time is that in
+which all things pass away; it is merely the form under which the will
+to live--the thing-in-itself and therefore imperishable--has revealed
+to it that its efforts are in vain; it is that agent by which at every
+moment all things in our hands become as nothing, and lose any real
+value they possess.
+
+That which _has been_ exists no more; it exists as little as that
+which has _never_ been. But of everything that exists you must say, in
+the next moment, that it has been. Hence something of great importance
+now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in
+that the latter is a _reality_, and related to the former as something
+to nothing.
+
+A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing,
+after thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for
+a little while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he
+must exist no more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that
+it cannot be true. The crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a
+subject without having a presentiment that Time is something ideal in
+its nature. This ideality of Time and Space is the key to every true
+system of metaphysics; because it provides for quite another order of
+things than is to be met with in the domain of nature. This is why
+Kant is so great.
+
+Of every event in our life we can say only for one moment that it
+_is_; for ever after, that it _was_. Every evening we are poorer by a
+day. It might, perhaps, make us mad to see how rapidly our short span
+of time ebbs away; if it were not that in the furthest depths of our
+being we are secretly conscious of our share in the exhaustible spring
+of eternity, so that we can always hope to find life in it again.
+
+Consideration of the kind, touched on above, might, indeed, lead us to
+embrace the belief that the greatest _wisdom_ is to make the enjoyment
+of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only
+reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand,
+such a course might just as well be called the greatest _folly_: for
+that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly,
+like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.
+
+The whole foundation on which our existence rests is the present--the
+ever-fleeting present. It lies, then, in the very nature of our
+existence to take the form of constant motion, and to offer no
+possibility of our ever attaining the rest for which we are always
+striving. We are like a man running downhill, who cannot keep on his
+legs unless he runs on, and will inevitably fall if he stops; or,
+again, like a pole balanced on the tip of one's finger; or like a
+planet, which would fall into its sun the moment it ceased to hurry
+forward on its way. Unrest is the mark of existence.
+
+In a world where all is unstable, and nought can endure, but is swept
+onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change; where a man, if
+he is to keep erect at all, must always be advancing and moving, like
+an acrobat on a rope--in such a world, happiness in inconceivable.
+How can it dwell where, as Plato says, _continual Becoming and never
+Being_ is the sole form of existence? In the first place, a man never
+is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which
+he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he
+does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the
+end, and comes into harbor with masts and rigging gone. And then, it
+is all one whether he has been happy or miserable; for his life was
+never anything more than a present moment always vanishing; and now it
+is over.
+
+At the same time it is a wonderful thing that, in the world of human
+beings as in that of animals in general, this manifold restless motion
+is produced and kept up by the agency of two simple impulses--hunger
+and the sexual instinct; aided a little, perhaps, by the influence of
+boredom, but by nothing else; and that, in the theatre of life, these
+suffice to form the _primum mobile_ of how complicated a machinery,
+setting in motion how strange and varied a scene!
+
+On looking a little closer, we find that inorganic matter presents
+a constant conflict between chemical forces, which eventually works
+dissolution; and on the other hand, that organic life is impossible
+without continual change of matter, and cannot exist if it does not
+receive perpetual help from without. This is the realm of _finality_;
+and its opposite would be _an infinite existence_, exposed to no
+attack from without, and needing nothing to support it; [Greek: haei
+hosautos dn], the realm of eternal peace; [Greek: oute giguomenon oute
+apollumenon], some timeless, changeless state, one and undiversified;
+the negative knowledge of which forms the dominant note of the
+Platonic philosophy. It is to some such state as this that the denial
+of the will to live opens up the way.
+
+The scenes of our life are like pictures done in rough mosaic. Looked
+at close, they produce no effect. There is nothing beautiful to
+be found in them, unless you stand some distance off. So, to gain
+anything we have longed for is only to discover how vain and empty
+it is; and even though we are always living in expectation of better
+things, at the same time we often repent and long to have the past
+back again. We look upon the present as something to be put up with
+while it lasts, and serving only as the way towards our goal. Hence
+most people, if they glance back when they come to the end of life,
+will find that all along they have been living _ad interim_: they will
+be surprised to find that the very thing they disregarded and let
+slip by unenjoyed, was just the life in the expectation of which they
+passed all their time. Of how many a man may it not be said that hope
+made a fool of him until he danced into the arms of death!
+
+Then again, how insatiable a creature is man! Every satisfaction he
+attains lays the seeds of some new desire, so that there is no end to
+the wishes of each individual will. And why is this? The real reason
+is simply that, taken in itself, Will is the lord of all worlds:
+everything belongs to it, and therefore no one single thing can ever
+give it satisfaction, but only the whole, which is endless. For all
+that, it must rouse our sympathy to think how very little the Will,
+this lord of the world, really gets when it takes the form of an
+individual; usually only just enough to keep the body together. This
+is why man is so very miserable.
+
+Life presents itself chiefly as a task--the task, I mean, of
+subsisting at all, _gagner sa vie_. If this is accomplished, life is a
+burden, and then there comes the second task of doing something with
+that which has been won--of warding off boredom, which, like a bird
+of prey, hovers over us, ready to fall wherever it sees a life secure
+from need. The first task is to win something; the second, to banish
+the feeling that it has been won; otherwise it is a burden.
+
+Human life must be some kind of mistake. The truth of this will be
+sufficiently obvious if we only remember that man is a compound of
+needs and necessities hard to satisfy; and that even when they are
+satisfied, all he obtains is a state of painlessness, where nothing
+remains to him but abandonment to boredom. This is direct proof that
+existence has no real value in itself; for what is boredom but the
+feeling of the emptiness of life? If life--the craving for which
+is the very essence of our being--were possessed of any positive
+intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere
+existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing.
+But as it is, we take no delight in existence except when we are
+struggling for something; and then distance and difficulties to be
+overcome make our goal look as though it would satisfy us--an illusion
+which vanishes when we reach it; or else when we are occupied with
+some purely intellectual interest--when in reality we have stepped
+forth from life to look upon it from the outside, much after the
+manner of spectators at a play. And even sensual pleasure itself means
+nothing but a struggle and aspiration, ceasing the moment its aim is
+attained. Whenever we are not occupied in one of these ways, but cast
+upon existence itself, its vain and worthless nature is brought home
+to us; and this is what we mean by boredom. The hankering after what
+is strange and uncommon--an innate and ineradicable tendency of human
+nature--shows how glad we are at any interruption of that natural
+course of affairs which is so very tedious.
+
+That this most perfect manifestation of the will to live, the human
+organism, with the cunning and complex working of its machinery,
+must fall to dust and yield up itself and all its strivings to
+extinction--this is the naive way in which Nature, who is always so
+true and sincere in what she says, proclaims the whole struggle of
+this will as in its very essence barren and unprofitable. Were it of
+any value in itself, anything unconditioned and absolute, it could not
+thus end in mere nothing.
+
+If we turn from contemplating the world as a whole, and, in
+particular, the generations of men as they live their little hour of
+mock-existence and then are swept away in rapid succession; if we turn
+from this, and look at life in its small details, as presented, say,
+in a comedy, how ridiculous it all seems! It is like a drop of water
+seen through a microscope, a single drop teeming with _infusoria_; or
+a speck of cheese full of mites invisible to the naked eye. How we
+laugh as they bustle about so eagerly, and struggle with one another
+in so tiny a space! And whether here, or in the little span of human
+life, this terrible activity produces a comic effect.
+
+It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. It is an
+indivisible point, drawn out and magnified by the powerful lenses of
+Time and Space.
+
+
+
+
+ON SUICIDE.
+
+
+As far as I know, none but the votaries of monotheistic, that is to
+say, Jewish religions, look upon suicide as a crime. This is all the
+more striking, inasmuch as neither in the Old nor in the New Testament
+is there to be found any prohibition or positive disapproval of it;
+so that religious teachers are forced to base their condemnation of
+suicide on philosophical grounds of their own invention. These are
+so very bad that writers of this kind endeavor to make up for the
+weakness of their arguments by the strong terms in which they express
+their abhorrence of the practice; in other words, they declaim against
+it. They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice; that
+only a madman could be guilty of it; and other insipidities of the
+same kind; or else they make the nonsensical remark that suicide is
+_wrong_; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world
+to which every mail has a more unassailable title than to his own life
+and person.
+
+Suicide, as I have said, is actually accounted a crime; and a crime
+which, especially under the vulgar bigotry that prevails in England,
+is followed by an ignominious burial and the seizure of the man's
+property; and for that reason, in a case of suicide, the jury almost
+always brings in a verdict of insanity. Now let the reader's own moral
+feelings decide as to whether or not suicide is a criminal act. Think
+of the impression that would be made upon you by the news that some
+one you know had committed the crime, say, of murder or theft, or been
+guilty of some act of cruelty or deception; and compare it with your
+feelings when you hear that he has met a voluntary death. While in the
+one case a lively sense of indignation and extreme resentment will be
+aroused, and you will call loudly for punishment or revenge, in the
+other you will be moved to grief and sympathy; and mingled with your
+thoughts will be admiration for his courage, rather than the moral
+disapproval which follows upon a wicked action. Who has not had
+acquaintances, friends, relations, who of their own free will have
+left this world; and are these to be thought of with horror as
+criminals? Most emphatically, No! I am rather of opinion that the
+clergy should be challenged to explain what right they have to go into
+the pulpit, or take up their pens, and stamp as a crime an action
+which many men whom we hold in affection and honor have committed;
+and to refuse an honorable burial to those who relinquish this
+world voluntarily. They have no Biblical authority to boast of,
+as justifying their condemnation of suicide; nay, not even any
+philosophical arguments that will hold water; and it must be
+understood that it is arguments we want, and that we will not be put
+off with mere phrases or words of abuse. If the criminal law forbids
+suicide, that is not an argument valid in the Church; and besides, the
+prohibition is ridiculous; for what penalty can frighten a man who is
+not afraid of death itself? If the law punishes people for trying
+to commit suicide, it is punishing the want of skill that makes the
+attempt a failure.
+
+The ancients, moreover, were very far from regarding the matter in
+that light. Pliny says: _Life is not so desirable a thing as to be
+protracted at any cost. Whoever you are, you are sure to die, even
+though your life has been full of abomination and crime. The chief
+of all remedies for a troubled mind is the feeling that among the
+blessings which Nature gives to man, there is none greater than an
+opportune death; and the best of it is that every one can avail
+himself of it.[1]_ And elsewhere the same writer declares: _Not even
+to God are all things possible; for he could not compass his own
+death, if he willed to die, and yet in all the miseries of our earthly
+life, this is the best of his gifts to man.[2]_ Nay, in Massilia
+and on the isle of Ceos, the man who could give valid reasons
+for relinquishing his life, was handed the cup of hemlock by the
+magistrate; and that, too, in public.[3] And in ancient times, how
+many heroes and wise men died a voluntary death. Aristotle,[4] it is
+true, declared suicide to be an offence against the State, although
+not against the person; but in Stobaeus' exposition of the Peripatetic
+philosophy there is the following remark: _The good man should flee
+life when his misfortunes become too great; the bad man, also, when
+he is too prosperous_. And similarly: _So he will marry and beget
+children and take part in the affairs of the State, and, generally,
+practice virtue and continue to live; and then, again, if need be,
+and at any time necessity compels him, he will depart to his place of
+refuge in the tomb.[5]_ And we find that the Stoics actually praised
+suicide as a noble and heroic action, as hundreds of passages show;
+above all in the works of Seneca, who expresses the strongest approval
+of it. As is well known, the Hindoos look upon suicide as a religious
+act, especially when it takes the form of self-immolation by widows;
+but also when it consists in casting oneself under the wheels of the
+chariot of the god at Juggernaut, or being eaten by crocodiles in the
+Ganges, or being drowned in the holy tanks in the temples, and so on.
+The same thing occurs on the stage--that mirror of life. For example,
+in _L'Orphelin de la Chine_[6] a celebrated Chinese play, almost
+all the noble characters end by suicide; without the slightest hint
+anywhere, or any impression being produced on the spectator, that
+they are committing a crime. And in our own theatre it is much the
+same--Palmira, for instance, in _Mahomet_, or Mortimer in _Maria
+Stuart_, Othello, Countess Terzky.[7] Is Hamlet's monologue the
+meditation of a criminal? He merely declares that if we had any
+certainty of being annihilated by it, death would be infinitely
+preferable to the world as it is. But _there lies the rub_!
+
+[Footnote 1: Hist. Nat. Lib. xxviii., 1.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Loc. cit. Lib. ii. c. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: 3 Valerius Maximus; hist. Lib. ii., c. 6, sec. 7 et 8.
+Heraclides Ponticus; fragmenta de rebus publicis, ix. Aeliani variae
+historiae, iii., 37. Strabo; Lib. x., c. 5, 6.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Eth. Nichom_., v. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Stobaeus. _Ecl. Eth_.. ii., c. 7, pp. 286, 312]
+
+[Footnote 6: Traduit par St. Julien, 1834.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Translator's Note_.--Palmira: a female slave in Goethe's
+play of _Mahomet_. Mortimer: a would-be lover and rescuer of Mary in
+Schiller's _Maria Stuart_. Countess Terzky: a leading character in
+Schiller's _Wallenstein's Tod_.]
+
+The reasons advanced against suicide by the clergy of monotheistic,
+that is to say, Jewish religions, and by those philosophers who adapt
+themselves thereto, are weak sophisms which can easily be refuted.[1]
+The most thorough-going refutation of them is given by Hume in his
+_Essay on Suicide_. This did not appeal until after his death, when
+it was immediately suppressed, owing to the scandalous bigotry and
+outrageous ecclesiastical tyranny that prevailed in England; and hence
+only a very few copies of it were sold under cover of secrecy and at a
+high price. This and another treatise by that great man have come to
+us from Basle, and we may be thankful for the reprint.[2] It is a
+great disgrace to the English nation that a purely philosophical
+treatise, which, proceeding from one of the first thinkers and writers
+in England, aimed at refuting the current arguments against suicide
+by the light of cold reason, should be forced to sneak about in that
+country, as though it were some rascally production, until at last it
+found refuge on the Continent. At the same time it shows what a good
+conscience the Church has in such matters.
+
+[Footnote 1: See my treatise on the _Foundation of Morals_, sec. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Essays on Suicide_ and the _Immortality of the Soul_, by
+the late David Hume, Basle, 1799, sold by James Decker.]
+
+In my chief work I have explained the only valid reason existing
+against suicide on the score of mortality. It is this: that suicide
+thwarts the attainment of the highest moral aim by the fact that, for
+a real release from this world of misery, it substitutes one that is
+merely apparent. But from a _mistake_ to a _crime_ is a far cry; and
+it is as a crime that the clergy of Christendom wish us to regard
+suicide.
+
+The inmost kernel of Christianity is the truth that suffering--_the
+Cross_--is the real end and object of life. Hence Christianity
+condemns suicide as thwarting this end; whilst the ancient world,
+taking a lower point of view, held it in approval, nay, in honor.[1]
+But if that is to be accounted a valid reason against suicide, it
+involves the recognition of asceticism; that is to say, it is valid
+only from a much higher ethical standpoint than has ever been adopted
+by moral philosophers in Europe. If we abandon that high standpoint,
+there is no tenable reason left, on the score of morality, for
+condemning suicide. The extraordinary energy and zeal with which the
+clergy of monotheistic religions attack suicide is not supported
+either by any passages in the Bible or by any considerations of
+weight; so that it looks as though they must have some secret reason
+for their contention. May it not be this--that the voluntary surrender
+of life is a bad compliment for him who said that _all things were
+very good_? If this is so, it offers another instance of the crass
+optimism of these religions,--denouncing suicide to escape being
+denounced by it.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--Schopenhauer refers to _Die Welt
+als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol. i., sec. 69, where the reader may find
+the same argument stated at somewhat greater length. According to
+Schopenhauer, moral freedom--the highest ethical aim--is to be
+obtained only by a denial of the will to live. Far from being a
+denial, suicide is an emphatic assertion of this will. For it is in
+fleeing from the pleasures, not from the sufferings of life, that this
+denial consists. When a man destroys his existence as an individual,
+he is not by any means destroying his will to live. On the contrary,
+he would like to live if he could do so with satisfaction to himself;
+if he could assert his will against the power of circumstance; but
+circumstance is too strong for him.]
+
+It will generally be found that, as soon as the terrors of life reach
+the point at which they outweigh the terrors of death, a man will
+put an end to his life. But the terrors of death offer considerable
+resistance; they stand like a sentinel at the gate leading out of this
+world. Perhaps there is no man alive who would not have already put an
+end to his life, if this end had been of a purely negative character,
+a sudden stoppage of existence. There is something positive about
+it; it is the destruction of the body; and a man shrinks from that,
+because his body is the manifestation of the will to live.
+
+However, the struggle with that sentinel is, as a rule, not so hard
+as it may seem from a long way off, mainly in consequence of the
+antagonism between the ills of the body and the ills of the mind. If
+we are in great bodily pain, or the pain lasts a long time, we become
+indifferent to other troubles; all we think about is to get well. In
+the same way great mental suffering makes us insensible to bodily
+pain; we despise it; nay, if it should outweigh the other, it
+distracts our thoughts, and we welcome it as a pause in mental
+suffering. It is this feeling that makes suicide easy; for the bodily
+pain that accompanies it loses all significance in the eyes of one
+who is tortured by an excess of mental suffering. This is especially
+evident in the case of those who are driven to suicide by some purely
+morbid and exaggerated ill-humor. No special effort to overcome their
+feelings is necessary, nor do such people require to be worked up in
+order to take the step; but as soon as the keeper into whose charge
+they are given leaves them for a couple of minutes, they quickly bring
+their life to an end.
+
+When, in some dreadful and ghastly dream, we reach the moment of
+greatest horror, it awakes us; thereby banishing all the hideous
+shapes that were born of the night. And life is a dream: when the
+moment of greatest horror compels us to break it off, the same thing
+happens.
+
+Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment--a question which man
+puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is
+this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his
+insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make;
+for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts
+the question and awaits the answer.
+
+
+
+
+IMMORTALITY:[1] A DIALOGUE.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The word
+immortality--_Unsterblichkeit_--does not occur in the original; nor
+would it, in its usual application, find a place in Schopenhauer's
+vocabulary. The word he uses is _Unzerstoerbarkeit--indestructibility_.
+But I have preferred _immortality_, because that word is commonly
+associated with the subject touched upon in this little debate. If any
+critic doubts the wisdom of this preference, let me ask him to try
+his hand at a short, concise, and, at the same time, popularly
+intelligible rendering of the German original, which runs thus: _Zur
+Lehre von der Unzerstoerbarkeit unseres wahren Wesens durch den Tod:
+Meine dialogische Schlussbelustigung_.]
+
+
+THRASYMACHOS--PHILALETHES.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Tell me now, in one word, what shall I be after my
+death? And mind you be clear and precise.
+
+_Philalethes_. All and nothing!
+
+_Thrasymachos_. I thought so! I gave you a problem, and you solve it
+by a contradiction. That's a very stale trick.
+
+_Philalethes_. Yes, but you raise transcendental questions, and you
+expect me to answer them in language that is only made for immanent
+knowledge. It's no wonder that a contradiction ensues.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. What do you mean by transcendental questions and
+immanent knowledge? I've heard these expressions before, of course;
+they are not new to me. The Professor was fond of using them, but only
+as predicates of the Deity, and he never talked of anything else;
+which was all quite right and proper. He argued thus: if the Deity was
+in the world itself, he was immanent; if he was somewhere outside it,
+he was transcendent. Nothing could be clearer and more obvious! You
+knew where you were. But this Kantian rigmarole won't do any more:
+it's antiquated and no longer applicable to modern ideas. Why, we've
+had a whole row of eminent men in the metropolis of German learning--
+
+_Philalethes_. (Aside.) German humbug, he means.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. The mighty Schleiermacher, for instance, and that
+gigantic intellect, Hegel; and at this time of day we've abandoned
+that nonsense. I should rather say we're so far beyond it that we
+can't put up with it any more. What's the use of it then? What does it
+all mean?
+
+_Philalethes_. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge which passes
+beyond the bounds of possible experience, and strives to determine the
+nature of things as they are in themselves. Immanent knowledge, on the
+other hand, is knowledge which confines itself entirely with those
+bounds; so that it cannot apply to anything but actual phenomena. As
+far as you are an individual, death will be the end of you. But your
+individuality is not your true and inmost being: it is only the
+outward manifestation of it. It is not the _thing-in-itself_, but only
+the phenomenon presented in the form of time; and therefore with a
+beginning and an end. But your real being knows neither time, nor
+beginning, nor end, nor yet the limits of any given individual. It is
+everywhere present in every individual; and no individual can
+exist apart from it. So when death comes, on the one hand you are
+annihilated as an individual; on the other, you are and remain
+everything. That is what I meant when I said that after your death
+you would be all and nothing. It is difficult to find a more precise
+answer to your question and at the same time be brief. The answer is
+contradictory, I admit; but it is so simply because your life is in
+time, and the immortal part of you in eternity. You may put the matter
+thus: Your immortal part is something that does not last in time and
+yet is indestructible; but there you have another contradiction! You
+see what happens by trying to bring the transcendental within the
+limits of immanent knowledge. It is in some sort doing violence to the
+latter by misusing it for ends it was never meant to serve.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Look here, I shan't give twopence for your immortality
+unless I'm to remain an individual.
+
+_Philalethes_. Well, perhaps I may be able to satisfy you on this
+point. Suppose I guarantee that after death you shall remain an
+individual, but only on condition that you first spend three months of
+complete unconsciousness.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. I shall have no objection to that.
+
+_Philalethes_. But remember, if people are completely unconscious,
+they take no account of time. So, when you are dead, it's all the same
+to you whether three months pass in the world of consciousness, or ten
+thousand years. In the one case as in the other, it is simply a matter
+of believing what is told you when you awake. So far, then, you can
+afford to be indifferent whether it is three months or ten thousand
+years that pass before you recover your individuality.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Yes, if it comes to that, I suppose you're right.
+
+_Philalethes_. And if by chance, after those ten thousand years have
+gone by, no one ever thinks of awakening you, I fancy it would be
+no great misfortune. You would have become quite accustomed to
+non-existence after so long a spell of it--following upon such a very
+few years of life. At any rate you may be sure you would be perfectly
+ignorant of the whole thing. Further, if you knew that the mysterious
+power which keeps you in your present state of life had never once
+ceased in those ten thousand years to bring forth other phenomena like
+yourself, and to endow them with life, it would fully console you.
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Indeed! So you think you're quietly going to do me
+out of my individuality with all this fine talk. But I'm up to your
+tricks. I tell you I won't exist unless I can have my individuality.
+I'm not going to be put off with 'mysterious powers,' and what you
+call 'phenomena.' I can't do without my individuality, and I won't
+give it up.
+
+_Philalethes_. You mean, I suppose, that your individuality is such a
+delightful thing, so splendid, so perfect, and beyond compare--that
+you can't imagine anything better. Aren't you ready to exchange your
+present state for one which, if we can judge by what is told us, may
+possibly be superior and more endurable?
+
+_Thrasymachos_. Don't you see that my individuality, be it what it
+may, is my very self? To me it is the most important thing in the
+world.
+
+  _For God is God and I am I_.
+
+_I_ want to exist, _I, I_. That's the main thing. I don't care about
+an existence which has to be proved to be mine, before I can believe
+it.
+
+_Philalethes_. Think what you're doing! When you say _I, I, I_ want
+to exist, it is not you alone that says this. Everything says it,
+absolutely everything that has the faintest trace of consciousness. It
+follows, then, that this desire of yours is just the part of you that
+is _not individual_--the part that is common to all things without
+distinction. It is the cry, not of the individual, but of existence
+itself; it is the intrinsic element in everything that exists, nay, it
+is the cause of anything existing at all. This desire craves for, and
+so is satisfied with, nothing less than existence in general--not any
+definite individual existence. No! that is not its aim. It seems to be
+so only because this desire--this _Will_--attains consciousness only
+in the individual, and therefore looks as though it were concerned
+with nothing but the individual. There lies the illusion--an illusion,
+it is true, in which the individual is held fast: but, if he reflects,
+he can break the fetters and set himself free. It is only indirectly,
+I say, that the individual has this violent craving for existence. It
+is _the Will to Live_ which is the real and direct aspirant--alike and
+identical in all things. Since, then, existence is the free work, nay,
+the mere reflection of the will, where existence is, there, too,
+must be will; and for the moment the will finds its satisfaction in
+existence itself; so far, I mean, as that which never rests, but
+presses forward eternally, can ever find any satisfaction at all.
+The will is careless of the individual: the individual is not its
+business; although, as I have said, this seems to be the case, because
+the individual has no direct consciousness of will except in himself.
+The effect of this is to make the individual careful to maintain his
+own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety
+for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that
+individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather of limitation;
+and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain. Trouble yourself no
+more about the matter. Once thoroughly recognize what you are, what
+your existence really is, namely, the universal will to live, and the
+whole question will seem to you childish, and most ridiculous!
+
+_Thrasymachos_. You're childish yourself and most ridiculous, like
+all philosophers! and if a man of my age lets himself in for a
+quarter-of-an-hour's talk with such fools, it is only because it
+amuses me and passes the time. I've more important business to attend
+to, so Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
+
+
+There is an unconscious propriety in the way in which, in all European
+languages, the word _person_ is commonly used to denote a human
+being. The real meaning of _persona_ is _a mask_, such as actors were
+accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no
+one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part.
+Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a
+perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds
+society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing us the
+consequence and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell
+us what the future will be? This is precisely why reason is such an
+excellent power of restraint in moments when we are possessed by some
+base passion, some fit of anger, some covetous desire, that will lead
+us to do things whereof we must presently repent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Hatred_ comes from the heart; _contempt_ from the head; and neither
+feeling is quite within our control. For we cannot alter our heart;
+its basis is determined by motives; and our head deals with objective
+facts, and applies to them rules which are immutable. Any given
+individual is the union of a particular heart with a particular head.
+
+Hatred and contempt are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.
+There are even not a few cases where hatred of a person is rooted in
+nothing but forced esteem for his qualities. And besides, if a man
+sets out to hate all the miserable creatures he meets, he will not
+have much energy left for anything else; whereas he can despise them,
+one and all, with the greatest ease. True, genuine contempt is just
+the reverse of true, genuine pride; it keeps quite quiet and gives no
+sign of its existence. For if a man shows that he despises you, he
+signifies at least this much regard for you, that he wants to let
+you know how little he appreciates you; and his wish is dictated by
+hatred, which cannot exist with real contempt. On the contrary, if it
+is genuine, it is simply the conviction that the object of it is a man
+of no value at all. Contempt is not incompatible with indulgent and
+kindly treatment, and for the sake of one's own peace and safety, this
+should not be omitted; it will prevent irritation; and there is no
+one who cannot do harm if he is roused to it. But if this pure, cold,
+sincere contempt ever shows itself, it will be met with the most
+truculent hatred; for the despised person is not in a position to
+fight contempt with its own weapons.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Melancholy is a very different thing from bad humor, and of the two,
+it is not nearly so far removed from a gay and happy temperament.
+Melancholy attracts, while bad humor repels.
+
+Hypochondria is a species of torment which not only makes us
+unreasonably cross with the things of the present; not only fills us
+with groundless anxiety on the score of future misfortunes entirely
+of our own manufacture; but also leads to unmerited self-reproach for
+what we have done in the past.
+
+Hypochondria shows itself in a perpetual hunting after things that vex
+and annoy, and then brooding over them. The cause of it is an inward
+morbid discontent, often co-existing with a naturally restless
+temperament. In their extreme form, this discontent and this unrest
+lead to suicide.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Any incident, however trivial, that rouses disagreeable emotion,
+leaves an after-effect in our mind, which for the time it lasts,
+prevents our taking a clear objective view of the things about us, and
+tinges all our thoughts: just as a small object held close to the eye
+limits and distorts our field of vision.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What makes people _hard-hearted_ is this, that each man has, or
+fancies he has, as much as he can bear in his own troubles. Hence, if
+a man suddenly finds himself in an unusually happy position, it will
+in most cases result in his being sympathetic and kind. But if he has
+never been in any other than a happy position, or this becomes his
+permanent state, the effect of it is often just the contrary: it so
+far removes him from suffering that he is incapable of feeling any
+more sympathy with it. So it is that the poor often show themselves
+more ready to help than the rich.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At times it seems as though we both wanted and did not want the same
+thing, and felt at once glad and sorry about it. For instance, if
+on some fixed date we are going to be put to a decisive test about
+anything in which it would be a great advantage to us to come off
+victorious, we shall be anxious for it to take place at once, and at
+the same time we shall tremble at the thought of its approach. And if,
+in the meantime, we hear that, for once in a way, the date has been
+postponed, we shall experience a feeling both of pleasure and of
+annoyance; for the news is disappointing, but nevertheless it affords
+us momentary relief. It is just the same thing if we are expecting
+some important letter carrying a definite decision, and it fails to
+arrive.
+
+In such cases there are really two different motives at work in us;
+the stronger but more distant of the two being the desire to stand
+the test and to have the decision given in our favor; and the weaker,
+which touches us more nearly, the wish to be left for the present in
+peace and quiet, and accordingly in further enjoyment of the advantage
+which at any rate attaches to a state of hopeful uncertainty, compared
+with the possibility that the issue may be unfavorable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In my head there is a permanent opposition-party; and whenever I take
+any step or come to any decision--though I may have given the matter
+mature consideration--it afterwards attacks what I have done, without,
+however, being each time necessarily in the right. This is, I suppose,
+only a form of rectification on the part of the spirit of scrutiny;
+but it often reproaches me when I do not deserve it. The same thing,
+no doubt, happens to many others as well; for where is the man who
+can help thinking that, after all, it were better not to have done
+something that he did with great deliberation:
+
+  _Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te
+  Conatus non poeniteat votique peracti_?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why is it that _common_ is an expression of contempt? and that
+_uncommon, extraordinary, distinguished_, denote approbation? Why is
+everything that is common contemptible?
+
+_Common_ in its original meaning denotes that which is peculiar to all
+men, _i.e_., shared equally by the whole species, and therefore an
+inherent part of its nature. Accordingly, if an individual possesses
+no qualities beyond those which attach to mankind in general, he is
+a _common man. Ordinary_ is a much milder word, and refers rather
+to intellectual character; whereas _common_ has more of a moral
+application.
+
+What value can a creature have that is not a whit different from
+millions of its kind? Millions, do I say? nay, an infiniture of
+creatures which, century after century, in never-ending flow, Nature
+sends bubbling up from her inexhaustible springs; as generous with
+them as the smith with the useless sparks that fly around his anvil.
+
+It is obviously quite right that a creature which has no qualities
+except those of the species, should have to confine its claim to an
+existence entirely within the limits of the species, and live a life
+conditioned by those limits.
+
+In various passages of my works,[1] I have argued that whilst a lower
+animal possesses nothing more than the generic character of its
+species, man is the only being which can lay claim to possess an
+individual character. But in most men this individual character comes
+to very little in reality; and they may be almost all ranged under
+certain classes: _ce sont des especes_. Their thoughts and desires,
+like their faces, are those of the species, or, at any rate, those
+of the class to which they belong; and accordingly, they are of a
+trivial, every-day, common character, and exist by the thousand. You
+can usually tell beforehand what they are likely to do and say. They
+have no special stamp or mark to distinguish them; they are like
+manufactured goods, all of a piece.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 48; _Welt als Wille und
+Vorstellung_, vol. i. p. 338.]
+
+If, then, their nature is merged in that of the species, how shall
+their existence go beyond it? The curse of vulgarity puts men on a par
+with the lower animals, by allowing them none but a generic nature, a
+generic form of existence. Anything that is high or great or noble,
+must then, as a mater of course, and by its very nature, stand alone
+in a world where no better expression can be found to denote what is
+base and contemptible than that which I have mentioned as in general
+use, namely, _common_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will, as the _thing-in-itself_, is the foundation of all being; it
+is part and parcel of every creature, and the permanent element in
+everything. Will, then, is that which we possess in common with all
+men, nay, with all animals, and even with lower forms of existence;
+and in so far we are akin to everything--so far, that is, as
+everything is filled to overflowing with will. On the other hand, that
+which places one being over another, and sets differences between man
+and man, is intellect and knowledge; therefore in every manifestation
+of self we should, as far as possible, give play to the intellect
+alone; for, as we have seen, the will is the _common_ part of us.
+Every violent exhibition of will is common and vulgar; in other words,
+it reduces us to the level of the species, and makes us a mere type
+and example of it; in that it is just the character of the
+species that we are showing. So every fit of anger is something
+_common_--every unrestrained display of joy, or of hate, or fear--in
+short, every form of emotion; in other words, every movement of the
+will, if it's so strong as decidedly to outweigh the intellectual
+element in consciousness, and to make the man appear as a being that
+_wills_ rather than _knows_.
+
+In giving way to emotion of this violent kind, the greatest genius
+puts himself on a level with the commonest son of earth. Contrarily,
+if a man desires to be absolutely uncommon, in other words, great, he
+should never allow his consciousness to be taken possession of
+and dominated by the movement of his will, however much he may be
+solicited thereto. For example, he must be able to observe that other
+people are badly disposed towards him, without feeling any hatred
+towards them himself; nay, there is no surer sign of a great mind than
+that it refuses to notice annoying and insulting expressions, but
+straightway ascribes them, as it ascribes countless other mistakes, to
+the defective knowledge of the speaker, and so merely observes without
+feeling them. This is the meaning of that remark of Gracian, that
+nothing is more unworthy of a man than to let it be seen that he is
+one--_el mayor desdoro de un hombre es dar muestras de que es hombre_.
+
+And even in the drama, which is the peculiar province of the passions
+and emotions, it is easy for them to appear common and vulgar. And
+this is specially observable in the works of the French tragic
+writers, who set no other aim before themselves but the delineation
+of the passions; and by indulging at one moment in a vaporous kind
+of pathos which makes them ridiculous, at another in epigrammatic
+witticisms, endeavor to conceal the vulgarity of their subject. I
+remember seeing the celebrated Mademoiselle Rachel as Maria Stuart:
+and when she burst out in fury against Elizabeth--though she did it
+very well--I could not help thinking of a washerwoman. She played
+the final parting in such a way as to deprive it of all true tragic
+feeling, of which, indeed, the French have no notion at all. The same
+part was incomparably better played by the Italian Ristori; and, in
+fact, the Italian nature, though in many respects very different from
+the German, shares its appreciation for what is deep, serious, and
+true in Art; herein opposed to the French, which everywhere betrays
+that it possesses none of this feeling whatever.
+
+The noble, in other words, the uncommon, element in the drama--nay,
+what is sublime in it--is not reached until the intellect is set to
+work, as opposed to the will; until it takes a free flight over all
+those passionate movements of the will, and makes them subject of its
+contemplation. Shakespeare, in particular, shows that this is his
+general method, more especially in Hamlet. And only when intellect
+rises to the point where the vanity of all effort is manifest, and the
+will proceeds to an act of self-annulment, is the drama tragic in the
+true sense of the word; it is then that it reaches its highest aim in
+becoming really sublime.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits
+of the world. This is an error of the intellect as inevitable as that
+error of the eye which lets us fancy that on the horizon heaven and
+earth meet. This explains many things, and among them the fact that
+everyone measures us with his own standard--generally about as long as
+a tailor's tape, and we have to put up with it: as also that no one
+will allow us to be taller than himself--a supposition which is once
+for all taken for granted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is no doubt that many a man owes his good fortune in life solely
+to the circumstance that he has a pleasant way of smiling, and so wins
+the heart in his favor.
+
+However, the heart would do better to be careful, and to remember what
+Hamlet put down in his tablets--_that one may smile, and smile, and be
+a villain_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Everything that is really fundamental in a man, and therefore genuine
+works, as such, unconsciously; in this respect like the power of
+nature. That which has passed through the domain of consciousness is
+thereby transformed into an idea or picture; and so if it comes to be
+uttered, it is only an idea or picture which passes from one person to
+another.
+
+Accordingly, any quality of mind or character that is genuine and
+lasting, is originally unconscious; and it is only when unconsciously
+brought into play that it makes a profound impression. If any like
+quality is consciously exercised, it means that it has been worked up;
+it becomes intentional, and therefore matter of affectation, in other
+words, of deception.
+
+If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if
+he tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails. This applies to the
+origin of those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of
+all genuine work. Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold
+water; and every man who wants to achieve something, whether in
+practical life, in literature, or in art, must _follow the rules
+without knowing them_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men of very great capacity, will as a rule, find the company of very
+stupid people preferable to that of the common run; for the same
+reason that the tyrant and the mob, the grandfather and the
+grandchildren, are natural allies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That line of Ovid's,
+
+  _Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram_,
+
+can be applied in its true physical sense to the lower animals alone;
+but in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly
+all men as well. All their plans and projects are merged in the desire
+of physical enjoyment, physical well-being. They may, indeed, have
+personal interests, often embracing a very varied sphere; but still
+these latter receive their importance entirely from the relation in
+which they stand to the former. This is not only proved by their
+manner of life and the things they say, but it even shows itself in
+the way they look, the expression of their physiognomy, their gait and
+gesticulations. Everything about them cries out; _in terram prona_!
+
+It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
+natures--men who really think and look about them in the world, and
+form exceptional specimens of humanity--that the next lines are
+applicable;
+
+  _Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
+  Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in
+himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in
+a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of
+the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and
+yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain.
+When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent
+warmth contained in it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one
+really knows what he looks like?
+
+A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
+then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, _Know
+thyself_.
+
+This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is
+physically impossible for a man to see himself in the glass except
+with face turned straight towards it and perfectly motionless; where
+the expression of the eye, which counts for so much, and really gives
+its whole character to the face, is to a great extent lost. But
+co-existing with this physical impossibility, there seems to me to be
+an ethical impossibility of an analogous nature, and producing the
+same effect. A man cannot look upon his own reflection as though the
+person presented there were _a stranger_ to him; and yet this is
+necessary if he is to take _an objective view_. In the last resort,
+an objective view means a deep-rooted feeling on the part of the
+individual, as a moral being, that that which he is contemplating is
+_not himself_[1]; and unless he can take this point of view, he will
+not see things in a really true light, which is possible only if he is
+alive to their actual defects, exactly as they are. Instead of that,
+when a man sees himself in the glass, something out of his own
+egotistic nature whispers to him to take care to remember that _it is
+no stranger, but himself, that he is looking at_; and this operates as
+a _noli me tang ere_, and prevents him taking an objective view. It
+seems, indeed, as if, without the leaven of a grain of malice, such a
+view were impossible.
+
+[Footnote 1: Cf. _Grundprobleme der Ethik_, p. 275.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+According as a man's mental energy is exerted or relaxed, will life
+appear to him either so short, and petty, and fleeting, that nothing
+can possibly happen over which it is worth his while to spend emotion;
+that nothing really matters, whether it is pleasure or riches, or even
+fame, and that in whatever way a man may have failed, he cannot
+have lost much--or, on the other hand, life will seem so long, so
+important, so all in all, so momentous and so full of difficulty that
+we have to plunge into it with our whole soul if we are to obtain a
+share of its goods, make sure of its prizes, and carry out our plans.
+This latter is the immanent and common view of life; it is what
+Gracian means when he speaks of the serious way of looking
+at things--_tomar muy de veras el vivir_. The former is the
+transcendental view, which is well expressed in Ovid's _non est
+tanti_--it is not worth so much trouble; still better, however, by
+Plato's remark that nothing in human affairs is worth any great
+anxiety--[Greek: oute ti ton anthropinon axion esti megalaes
+spoudaes.] This condition of mind is due to the intellect having got
+the upper hand in the domain of consciousness, where, freed from
+the mere service of the will, it looks upon the phenomena of life
+objectively, and so cannot fail to gain a clear insight into its
+vain and futile character. But in the other condition of mind, will
+predominates; and the intellect exists only to light it on its way to
+the attainment of its desires.
+
+A man is great or small according as he leans to the one or the other
+of these views of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+People of very brilliant ability think little of admitting their
+errors and weaknesses, or of letting others see them. They look upon
+them as something for which they have duly paid; and instead of
+fancying that these weaknesses are a disgrace to them, they consider
+they are doing them an honor. This is especially the case when
+the errors are of the kind that hang together with their
+qualities--_conditiones sine quibus non_--or, as George Sand said,
+_les defauts de ses vertus_.
+
+Contrarily, there are people of good character and irreproachable
+intellectual capacity, who, far from admitting the few little
+weaknesses they have, conceal them with care, and show themselves very
+sensitive to any suggestion of their existence; and this, just because
+their whole merit consists in being free from error and infirmity. If
+these people are found to have done anything wrong, their reputation
+immediately suffers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With people of only moderate ability, modesty is mere honesty; but
+with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy. Hence, it is
+just as becoming in the latter to make no secret of the respect they
+bear themselves and no disguise of the fact that they are conscious of
+unusual power, as it is in the former to be modest. Valerius
+Maximus gives some very neat examples of this in his chapter on
+self-confidence, _de fiducia sui_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Not to go to the theatre is like making one's toilet without a mirror.
+But it is still worse to take a decision without consulting a friend.
+For a man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters,
+and yet go wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will
+comes in and deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take
+counsel of a friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he
+falls ill, he sends for a colleague.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In all that we do, we wish, more or less, to come to the end; we are
+impatient to finish and glad to be done. But the last scene of all,
+the general end, is something that, as a rule, we wish as far off as
+may be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again
+a foretaste of the resurrection. This is why even people who were
+indifferent to each other, rejoice so much if they come together again
+after twenty or thirty years' separation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Intellects differ from one another in a very real and fundamental way:
+but no comparison can well be made by merely general observations. It
+is necessary to come close, and to go into details; for the difference
+that exists cannot be seen from afar; and it is not easy to judge by
+outward appearances, as in the several cases of education, leisure and
+occupation. But even judging by these alone, it must be admitted that
+many a man has _a degree of existence_ at least ten times as high as
+another--in other words, exists ten times as much.
+
+I am not speaking here of savages whose life is often only one degree
+above that of the apes in their woods. Consider, for instance, a
+porter in Naples or Venice (in the north of Europe solicitude for the
+winter months makes people more thoughtful and therefore reflective);
+look at the life he leads, from its beginning to its end:--driven by
+poverty; living on his physical strength; meeting the needs of every
+day, nay, of every hour, by hard work, great effort, constant tumult,
+want in all its forms, no care for the morrow; his only comfort
+rest after exhaustion; continuous quarreling; not a moment free for
+reflection; such sensual delights as a mild climate and only just
+sufficient food will permit of; and then, finally, as the metaphysical
+element, the crass superstition of his church; the whole forming a
+manner of life with only a low degree of consciousness, where a man
+hustles, or rather is hustled, through his existence. This restless
+and confused dream forms the life of how many millions!
+
+Such men _think_ only just so much as is necessary to carry out their
+will for the moment. They never reflect upon their life as a connected
+whole, let alone, then, upon existence in general; to a certain extent
+they may be said to exist without really knowing it. The existence of
+the mobsman or the slave who lives on in this unthinking way, stands
+very much nearer than ours to that of the brute, which is confined
+entirely to the present moment; but, for that very reason, it has also
+less of pain in it than ours. Nay, since all pleasure is in its nature
+negative, that is to say, consists in freedom from some form of misery
+or need, the constant and rapid interchange between setting about
+something and getting it done, which is the permanent accompaniment of
+the work they do, and then again the augmented form which this
+takes when they go from work to rest and the satisfaction of their
+needs--all this gives them a constant source of enjoyment; and the
+fact that it is much commoner to see happy faces amongst the poor than
+amongst the rich, is a sure proof that it is used to good advantage.
+
+Passing from this kind of man, consider, next, the sober, sensible
+merchant, who leads a life of speculation, thinks long over his plans
+and carries them out with great care, founds a house, and provides for
+his wife, his children and descendants; takes his share, too, in the
+life of a community. It is obvious that a man like this has a much
+higher degree of consciousness than the former, and so his existence
+has a higher degree of reality.
+
+Then look at the man of learning, who investigates, it may be, the
+history of the past. He will have reached the point at which a man
+becomes conscious of existence as a whole, sees beyond the period of
+his own life, beyond his own personal interests, thinking over the
+whole course of the world's history.
+
+Then, finally, look at the poet or the philosopher, in whom reflection
+has reached such a height, that, instead of being drawn on to
+investigate any one particular phenomenon of existence, he stands in
+amazement _before existence itself_, this great sphinx, and makes it
+his problem. In him consciousness has reached the degree of clearness
+at which it embraces the world itself: his intellect has completely
+abandoned its function as the servant of his will, and now holds the
+world before him; and the world calls upon him much more to examine
+and consider it, than to play a part in it himself. If, then, the
+degree of consciousness is the degree of reality, such a man will be
+said to exist most of all, and there will be sense and significance in
+so describing him.
+
+Between the two extremes here sketched, and the intervening stages,
+everyone will be able to find the place at which he himself stands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We know that man is in general superior to all other animals, and this
+is also the case in his capacity for being trained. Mohammedans are
+trained to pray with their faces turned towards Mecca, five times a
+day; and they never fail to do it. Christians are trained to cross
+themselves on certain occasions, to bow, and so on. Indeed, it may
+be said that religion is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of the art of training,
+because it trains people in the way they shall think: and, as is well
+known, you cannot begin the process too early. There is no absurdity
+so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if
+you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly
+repeating it with an air of great solemnity. For as in the case of
+animals, so in that of men, training is successful only when you begin
+in early youth.
+
+Noblemen and gentlemen are trained to hold nothing sacred but their
+word of honor--to maintain a zealous, rigid, and unshaken belief in
+the ridiculous code of chivalry; and if they are called upon to do so,
+to seal their belief by dying for it, and seriously to regard a king
+as a being of a higher order.
+
+Again, our expressions of politeness, the compliments we make, in
+particular, the respectful attentions we pay to ladies, are a matter
+of training; as also our esteem for good birth, rank, titles, and so
+on. Of the same character is the resentment we feel at any insult
+directed against us; and the measure of this resentment may be exactly
+determined by the nature of the insult. An Englishman, for instance,
+thinks it a deadly insult to be told that he is no gentleman, or,
+still worse, that he is a liar; a Frenchman has the same feeling if
+you call him a coward, and a German if you say he is stupid.
+
+There are many persons who are trained to be strictly honorable in
+regard to one particular matter, while they have little honor to boast
+of in anything else. Many a man, for instance, will not steal your
+money; but he will lay hands on everything of yours that he can enjoy
+without having to pay for it. A man of business will often deceive you
+without the slightest scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit
+a theft.
+
+Imagination is strong in a man when that particular function of the
+brain which enables him to observe is roused to activity without
+any necessary excitement of the senses. Accordingly, we find that
+imagination is active just in proportion as our senses are not excited
+by external objects. A long period of solitude, whether in prison or
+in a sick room; quiet, twilight, darkness--these are the things that
+promote its activity; and under their influence it comes into play of
+itself. On the other hand, when a great deal of material is presented
+to our faculties of observation, as happens on a journey, or in
+the hurly-burly of the world, or, again, in broad daylight, the
+imagination is idle, and, even though call may be made upon it,
+refuses to become active, as though it understood that that was not
+its proper time.
+
+However, if the imagination is to yield any real product, it must have
+received a great deal of material from the external world. This is
+the only way in which its storehouse can be filled. The phantasy is
+nourished much in the same way as the body, which is least capable
+of any work and enjoys doing nothing just in the very moment when it
+receives its food which it has to digest. And yet it is to this very
+food that it owes the power which it afterwards puts forth at the
+right time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past
+the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the
+other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true
+point at which it can remain at rest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By a process of contradiction, distance in space makes things look
+small, and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks
+so much better in a contracting mirror or in a _camera obscura_, than
+it is in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The
+scenes and events of long ago, and the persons who took part in them,
+wear a charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the
+outlines and takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys
+no such advantage, and so it always seems defective.
+
+And again, as regards space, small objects close to us look big, and
+if they are very close, we may be able to see nothing else, but when
+we go a little way off, they become minute and invisible. It is the
+same again as regards time. The little incidents and accidents of
+every day fill us with emotion, anxiety, annoyance, passion, as long
+as they are close to us, when they appear so big, so important, so
+serious; but as soon as they are borne down the restless stream of
+time, they lose what significance they had; we think no more of them
+and soon forget them altogether. They were big only because they were
+near.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Joy_ and _sorrow_ are not ideas of the mind, but affections of the
+will, and so they do not lie in the domain of memory. We cannot recall
+our joys and sorrows; by which I mean that we cannot renew them. We
+can recall only the _ideas_ that accompanied them; and, in particular,
+the things we were led to say; and these form a gauge of our feelings
+at the time. Hence our memory of joys and sorrows is always imperfect,
+and they become a matter of indifference to us as soon as they are
+over. This explains the vanity of the attempt, which we sometimes
+make, to revive the pleasures and the pains of the past. Pleasure and
+pain are essentially an affair of the will; and the will, as such, is
+not possessed of memory, which is a function of the intellect; and
+this in its turn gives out and takes in nothing but thoughts and
+ideas, which are not here in question.
+
+It is a curious fact that in bad days we can very vividly recall the
+good time that is now no more; but that in good days, we have only a
+very cold and imperfect memory of the bad.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We have a much better memory of actual objects or pictures than
+for mere ideas. Hence a good imagination makes it easier to learn
+languages; for by its aid, the new word is at once united with the
+actual object to which it refers; whereas, if there is no imagination,
+it is simply put on a parallel with the equivalent word in the mother
+tongue.
+
+Mnemonics should not only mean the art of keeping something indirectly
+in the memory by the use of some direct pun or witticism; it should,
+rather, be applied to a systematic theory of memory, and explain its
+several attributes by reference both to its real nature, and to the
+relation in which these attributes stand to one another.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are moments in life when our senses obtain a higher and rarer
+degree of clearness, apart from any particular occasion for it in the
+nature of our surroundings; and explicable, rather, on physiological
+grounds alone, as the result of some enhanced state of susceptibility,
+working from within outwards. Such moments remain indelibly impressed
+upon the memory, and preserve themselves in their individuality
+entire. We can assign no reason for it, nor explain why this among so
+many thousand moments like it should be specially remembered. It seems
+as much a matter of chance as when single specimens of a whole race of
+animals now extinct are discovered in the layers of a rock; or when,
+on opening a book, we light upon an insect accidentally crushed within
+the leaves. Memories of this kind are always sweet and pleasant.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It occasionally happens that, for no particular reason, long-forgotten
+scenes suddenly start up in the memory. This may in many cases be due
+to the action of some hardly perceptible odor, which accompanied those
+scenes and now recurs exactly same as before. For it is well known
+that the sense of smell is specially effective in awakening memories,
+and that in general it does not require much to rouse a train of
+ideas. And I may say, in passing, that the sense of sight is connected
+with the understanding,[1] the sense of hearing with the reason,[2]
+and, as we see in the present case, the sense of smell with the
+memory. Touch and Taste are more material and dependent upon contact.
+They have no ideal side.
+
+[Footnote 1:_Wierfache Wurzel_ sec. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Parerga_ vol. ii, sec. 311.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It must also be reckoned among the peculiar attributes of memory
+that a slight state of intoxication often so greatly enhances the
+recollection of past times and scenes, that all the circumstances
+connected with them come back much more clearly than would be possible
+in a state of sobriety; but that, on the other hand, the recollection
+of what one said or did while the intoxication lasted, is more than
+usually imperfect; nay, that if one has been absolutely tipsy, it is
+gone altogether. We may say, then, that whilst intoxication enhances
+the memory for what is past, it allows it to remember little of the
+present.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive
+within. Contrarily, if they are active within, they do not care to be
+dragged out of themselves; it disturbs and impedes their thoughts in a
+way that is often most ruinous to them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am not surprised that some people are bored when they find
+themselves alone; for they cannot laugh if they are quite by
+themselves. The very idea of it seems folly to them.
+
+Are we, then, to look upon laughter as merely O signal for others--a
+mere sign, like a word? What makes it impossible for people to laugh
+when they are alone is nothing but want of imagination, dullness of
+mind generally--[Greek: anaisthaesia kai bradutaes psuchaes], as
+Theophrastus has it.[1] The lower animals never laugh, either alone
+or in company. Myson, the misanthropist, was once surprised by one of
+these people as he was laughing to himself. _Why do you laugh_? he
+asked; _there is no one with you. That is just why I am laughing_,
+said Myson.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Characters_, c. 27.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Natural _gesticulation_, such as commonly accompanies any lively talk,
+is a language of its own, more widespread, even, than the language of
+words--so far, I mean, as it is independent of words and alike in all
+nations. It is true that nations make use of it in proportion as they
+are vivacious, and that in particular cases, amongst the Italians, for
+instance, it is supplemented by certain peculiar gestures which are
+merely conventional, and therefore possessed of nothing more than a
+local value.
+
+In the universal use made of it, gesticulation has some analogy with
+logic and grammar, in that it has to do with the form, rather
+than with the matter of conversation; but on the other hand it is
+distinguishable from them by the fact that it has more of a moral than
+of an intellectual bearing; in other words, it reflects the movements
+of the will. As an accompaniment of conversation it is like the bass
+of a melody; and if, as in music, it keeps true to the progress of the
+treble, it serves to heighten the effect.
+
+In a conversation, the gesture depends upon the form in which the
+subject-matter is conveyed; and it is interesting to observe that,
+whatever that subject-matter may be, with a recurrence of the form,
+the very same gesture is repeated. So if I happen to see--from my
+window, say--two persons carrying on a lively conversation, without
+my being able to catch a word, I can, nevertheless, understand the
+general nature of it perfectly well; I mean, the kind of thing that is
+being said and the form it takes. There is no mistake about it. The
+speaker is arguing about something, advancing his reasons, then
+limiting their application, then driving them home and drawing the
+conclusion in triumph; or he is recounting his experiences, proving,
+perhaps, beyond the shadow of a doubt, how much he has been injured,
+but bringing the clearest and most damning evidence to show that
+his opponents were foolish and obstinate people who would not be
+convinced; or else he is telling of the splendid plan he laid, and how
+he carried it to a successful issue, or perhaps failed because
+the luck was against him; or, it may be, he is saying that he was
+completely at a loss to know what to do, or that he was quick in
+seeing some traps set for him, and that by insisting on his rights or
+by applying a little force, he succeeded in frustrating and punishing
+his enemies; and so on in hundreds of cases of a similar kind.
+
+Strictly speaking, however, what I get from gesticulation alone is
+an abstract notion of the essential drift of what is being said, and
+that, too, whether I judge from a moral or an intellectual point of
+view. It is the quintessence, the true substance of the conversation,
+and this remains identical, no matter what may have given rise to the
+conversation, or what it may be about; the relation between the two
+being that of a general idea or class-name to the individuals which it
+covers.
+
+As I have said, the most interesting and amusing part of the matter is
+the complete identity and solidarity of the gestures used to denote
+the same set of circumstances, even though by people of very different
+temperament; so that the gestures become exactly like words of
+a language, alike for every one, and subject only to such small
+modifications as depend upon variety of accent and education. And yet
+there can be no doubt but that these standing gestures, which every
+one uses, are the result of no convention or collusion. They are
+original and innate--a true language of nature; consolidated, it may
+be, by imitation and the influence of custom.
+
+It is well known that it is part of an actor's duty to make a careful
+study of gesture; and the same thing is true, to a somewhat smaller
+degree, of a public speaker. This study must consist chiefly in
+watching others and imitating their movements, for there are no
+abstract rules fairly applicable to the matter, with the exception
+of some very general leading principles, such as--to take an
+example--that the gesture must not follow the word, but rather
+come immediately before it, by way of announcing its approach and
+attracting the hearer's attention.
+
+Englishmen entertain a peculiar contempt for gesticulation, and look
+upon it as something vulgar and undignified. This seems to me a silly
+prejudice on their part, and the outcome of their general prudery. For
+here we have a language which nature has given to every one, and which
+every one understands; and to do away with and forbid it for no better
+reason than that it is opposed to that much-lauded thing, gentlemanly
+feeling, is a very questionable proceeding.
+
+
+
+
+ON EDUCATION.
+
+
+The human intellect is said to be so constituted that _general ideas_
+arise by abstraction from _particular observations_, and therefore
+come after them in point of time. If this is what actually occurs, as
+happens in the case of a man who has to depend solely upon his own
+experience for what he learns--who has no teacher and no book,--such
+a man knows quite well which of his particular observations belong to
+and are represented by each of his general ideas. He has a perfect
+acquaintance with both sides of his experience, and accordingly, he
+treats everything that comes in his way from a right standpoint. This
+might be called the _natural_ method of education.
+
+Contrarily, the _artificial_ method is to hear what other people say,
+to learn and to read, and so to get your head crammed full of general
+ideas before you have any sort of extended acquaintance with the world
+as it is, and as you may see it for yourself. You will be told that
+the particular observations which go to make these general ideas will
+come to you later on in the course of experience; but until that time
+arrives, you apply your general ideas wrongly, you judge men and
+things from a wrong standpoint, you see them in a wrong light, and
+treat them in a wrong way. So it is that education perverts the mind.
+
+This explains why it so frequently happens that, after a long course
+of learning and reading, we enter upon the world in our youth, partly
+with an artless ignorance of things, partly with wrong notions about
+them; so that our demeanor savors at one moment of a nervous anxiety,
+at another of a mistaken confidence. The reason of this is simply that
+our head is full of general ideas which we are now trying to turn to
+some use, but which we hardly ever apply rightly. This is the result
+of acting in direct opposition to the natural development of the mind
+by obtaining general ideas first, and particular observations last:
+it is putting the cart before the horse. Instead of developing the
+child's own faculties of discernment, and teaching it to judge and
+think for itself, the teacher uses all his energies to stuff its head
+full of the ready-made thoughts of other people. The mistaken views
+of life, which spring from a false application of general ideas, have
+afterwards to be corrected by long years of experience; and it is
+seldom that they are wholly corrected. This is why so few men of
+learning are possessed of common-sense, such as is often to be met
+with in people who have had no instruction at all.
+
+_To acquire a knowledge of the world_ might be defined as the aim
+of all education; and it follows from what I have said that special
+stress should be laid upon beginning to acquire this knowledge _at
+the right end_. As I have shown, this means, in the main, that the
+particular observation of a thing shall precede the general idea of
+it; further, that narrow and circumscribed ideas shall come before
+ideas of a wide range. It means, therefore, that the whole system of
+education shall follow in the steps that must have been taken by the
+ideas themselves in the course of their formation. But whenever any of
+these steps are skipped or left out, the instruction is defective, and
+the ideas obtained are false; and finally, a distorted view of the
+world arises, peculiar to the individual himself--a view such as
+almost everyone entertains for some time, and most men for as long as
+they live. No one can look into his own mind without seeing that it
+was only after reaching a very mature age, and in some cases when he
+least expected it, that he came to a right understanding or a clear
+view of many matters in his life, that, after all, were not very
+difficult or complicated. Up till then, they were points in his
+knowledge of the world which were still obscure, due to his having
+skipped some particular lesson in those early days of his education,
+whatever it may have been like--whether artificial and conventional,
+or of that natural kind which is based upon individual experience.
+
+It follows that an attempt should be made to find out the strictly
+natural course of knowledge, so that education may proceed
+methodically by keeping to it; and that children may become acquainted
+with the ways of the world, without getting wrong ideas into their
+heads, which very often cannot be got out again. If this plan were
+adopted, special care would have to be taken to prevent children
+from using words without clearly understanding their meaning and
+application. The fatal tendency to be satisfied with words instead of
+trying to understand things--to learn phrases by heart, so that
+they may prove a refuge in time of need, exists, as a rule, even in
+children; and the tendency lasts on into manhood, making the knowledge
+of many learned persons to consist in mere verbiage.
+
+However, the main endeavor must always be to let particular
+observations precede general ideas, and not _vice versa_, as is
+usually and unfortunately the case; as though a child should come
+feet foremost into the world, or a verse be begun by writing down the
+rhyme! The ordinary method is to imprint ideas and opinions, in the
+strict sense of the word, _prejudices_, on the mind of the child,
+before it has had any but a very few particular observations. It is
+thus that he afterwards comes to view the world and gather experience
+through the medium of those ready-made ideas, rather than to let his
+ideas be formed for him out of his own experience of life, as they
+ought to be.
+
+A man sees a great many things when he looks at the world for himself,
+and he sees them from many sides; but this method of learning is not
+nearly so short or so quick as the method which employs abstract
+ideas and makes hasty generalizations about everything. Experience,
+therefore, will be a long time in correcting preconceived ideas, or
+perhaps never bring its task to an end; for wherever a man finds that
+the aspect of things seems to contradict the general ideas he has
+formed, he will begin by rejecting the evidence it offers as partial
+and one-sided; nay, he will shut his eyes to it altogether and deny
+that it stands in any contradiction at all with his preconceived
+notions, in order that he may thus preserve them uninjured. So it is
+that many a man carries about a burden of wrong notions all his life
+long--crotchets, whims, fancies, prejudices, which at last become
+fixed ideas. The fact is that he has never tried to form his
+fundamental ideas for himself out of his own experience of life, his
+own way of looking at the world, because he has taken over his ideas
+ready-made from other people; and this it is that makes him--as it
+makes how many others!--so shallow and superficial.
+
+Instead of that method of instruction, care should be taken to educate
+children on the natural lines. No idea should ever be established in a
+child's mind otherwise than by what the child can see for itself, or
+at any rate it should be verified by the same means; and the result of
+this would be that the child's ideas, if few, would be well-grounded
+and accurate. It would learn how to measure things by its own standard
+rather than by another's; and so it would escape a thousand strange
+fancies and prejudices, and not need to have them eradicated by the
+lessons it will subsequently be taught in the school of life. The
+child would, in this way, have its mind once for all habituated
+to clear views and thorough-going knowledge; it would use its own
+judgment and take an unbiased estimate of things.
+
+And, in general, children should not form their notions of what life
+is like from the copy before they have learned it from the original,
+to whatever aspect of it their attention may be directed. Instead,
+therefore, of hastening to place _books_, and books alone, in their
+hands, let them be made acquainted, step by step, with _things_--with
+the actual circumstances of human life. And above all let care be
+taken to bring them to a clear and objective view of the world as it
+is, to educate them always to derive their ideas directly from real
+life, and to shape them in conformity with it--not to fetch them from
+other sources, such as books, fairy tales, or what people say--then
+to apply them ready-made to real life. For this will mean that their
+heads are full of wrong notions, and that they will either see things
+in a false light or try in vain to _remodel the world_ to suit their
+views, and so enter upon false paths; and that, too, whether they are
+only constructing theories of life or engaged in the actual business
+of it. It is incredible how much harm is done when the seeds of wrong
+notions are laid in the mind in those early years, later on to bear a
+crop of prejudice; for the subsequent lessons, which are learned from
+real life in the world have to be devoted mainly to their extirpation.
+_To unlearn the evil_ was the answer, according to Diogenes
+Laertius,[1] Antisthenes gave, when he was asked what branch of
+knowledge was most necessary; and we can see what he meant.
+
+[Footnote 1: vi. 7.]
+
+No child under the age of fifteen should receive instruction in
+subjects which may possibly be the vehicle of serious error, such as
+philosophy, religion, or any other branch of knowledge where it is
+necessary to take large views; because wrong notions imbibed early can
+seldom be rooted out, and of all the intellectual faculties, judgment
+is the last to arrive at maturity. The child should give its attention
+either to subjects where no error is possible at all, such as
+mathematics, or to those in which there is no particular danger in
+making a mistake, such as languages, natural science, history and so
+on. And in general, the branches of knowledge which are to be studied
+at any period of life should be such as the mind is equal to at that
+period and can perfectly understand. Childhood and youth form the time
+for collecting materials, for getting a special and thorough knowledge
+of the individual and particular things. In those years it is too
+early to form views on a large scale; and ultimate explanations must
+be put off to a later date. The faculty of judgment, which cannot come
+into play without mature experience, should be left to itself; and
+care should be taken not to anticipate its action by inculcating
+prejudice, which will paralyze it for ever.
+
+On the other hand, the memory should be specially taxed in youth,
+since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in
+choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost care
+and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are
+never forgotten. This precious soil must therefore be cultivated so as
+to bear as much fruit as possible. If you think how deeply rooted in
+your memory are those persons whom you knew in the first twelve years
+of your life, how indelible the impression made upon you by the events
+of those years, how clear your recollection of most of the things that
+happened to you then, most of what was told or taught you, it will
+seem a natural thing to take the susceptibility and tenacity of the
+mind at that period as the ground-work of education. This may be done
+by a strict observance of method, and a systematic regulation of the
+impressions which the mind is to receive.
+
+But the years of youth allotted to a man are short, and memory is, in
+general, bound within narrow limits; still more so, the memory of any
+one individual. Since this is the case, it is all-important to fill
+the memory with what is essential and material in any branch of
+knowledge, to the exclusion of everything else. The decision as to
+what is essential and material should rest with the masterminds in
+every department of thought; their choice should be made after the
+most mature deliberation, and the outcome of it fixed and determined.
+Such a choice would have to proceed by sifting the things which it
+is necessary and important for a man to know in general, and then,
+necessary and important for him to know in any particular business
+or calling. Knowledge of the first kind would have to be classified,
+after an encyclopaedic fashion, in graduated courses, adapted to the
+degree of general culture which a man may be expected to have in the
+circumstances in which he is placed; beginning with a course limited
+to the necessary requirements of primary education, and extending
+upwards to the subjects treated of in all the branches of
+philosophical thought. The regulation of the second kind of knowledge
+would be left to those who had shown genuine mastery in the several
+departments into which it is divided; and the whole system would
+provide an elaborate rule or canon for intellectual education, which
+would, of course, have to be revised every ten years. Some such
+arrangement as this would employ the youthful power of the memory to
+best advantage, and supply excellent working material to the faculty
+of judgment, when it made its appearance later on.
+
+A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, it has
+reached the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an
+individual, is capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is
+established between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he
+has actually perceived for himself. This will mean that each of
+his abstract ideas rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of
+observation, which alone endows it with any real value; and also
+that he is able to place every observation he makes under the right
+abstract idea which belongs to it. Maturity is the work of experience
+alone; and therefore it requires time. The knowledge we derive from
+our own observation is usually distinct from that which we acquire
+through the medium of abstract ideas; the one coming to us in the
+natural way, the other by what people tell us, and the course of
+instruction we receive, whether it is good or bad. The result is, that
+in youth there is generally very little agreement or correspondence
+between our abstract ideas, which are merely phrases in the mind, and
+that real knowledge which we have obtained by our own observation. It
+is only later on that a gradual approach takes place between these two
+kinds of knowledge, accompanied by a mutual correction of error; and
+knowledge is not mature until this coalition is accomplished. This
+maturity or perfection of knowledge is something quite independent of
+another kind of perfection, which may be of a high or a low order--the
+perfection, I mean, to which a man may bring his own individual
+faculties; which is measured, not by any correspondence between the
+two kinds of knowledge, but by the degree of intensity which each kind
+attains.
+
+For the practical man the most needful thing is to acquire an accurate
+and profound knowledge of _the ways of the world_. But this, though
+the most needful, is also the most wearisome of all studies, as a man
+may reach a great age without coming to the end of his task; whereas,
+in the domain of the sciences, he masters the more important facts
+when he is still young. In acquiring that knowledge of the world, it
+is while he is a novice, namely, in boyhood and in youth, that the
+first and hardest lessons are put before him; but it often happens
+that even in later years there is still a great deal to be learned.
+
+The study is difficult enough in itself; but the difficulty is doubled
+by _novels_, which represent a state of things in life and the world,
+such as, in fact, does not exist. Youth is credulous, and accepts
+these views of life, which then become part and parcel of the mind; so
+that, instead of a merely negative condition of ignorance, you have
+positive error--a whole tissue of false notions to start with; and at
+a later date these actually spoil the schooling of experience, and put
+a wrong construction on the lessons it teaches. If, before this,
+the youth had no light at all to guide him, he is now misled by a
+will-o'-the-wisp; still more often is this the case with a girl.
+They have both had a false view of things foisted on them by reading
+novels; and expectations have been aroused which can never be
+fulfilled. This generally exercises a baneful influence on their whole
+life. In this respect those whose youth has allowed them no time or
+opportunity for reading novels--those who work with their hands and
+the like--are in a position of decided advantage. There are a few
+novels to which this reproach cannot be addressed--nay, which have an
+effect the contrary of bad. First and foremost, to give an example,
+_Gil Blas_, and the other works of Le Sage (or rather their Spanish
+originals); further, _The Vicar of Wakefield_, and, to some extent Sir
+Walter Scott's novels. _Don Quixote_ may be regarded as a satirical
+exhibition of the error to which I am referring.
+
+
+
+
+OF WOMEN.
+
+
+Schiller's poem in honor of women, _Wuerde der Frauen_, is the
+result of much careful thought, and it appeals to the reader by its
+antithetic style and its use of contrast; but as an expression of the
+true praise which should be accorded to them, it is, I think, inferior
+to these few words of Jouy's: _Without women, the beginning of our
+life would be helpless; the middle, devoid of pleasure; and the end,
+of consolation_. The same thing is more feelingly expressed by Byron
+in _Sardanapalus_:
+
+                                                 _The very first
+  Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
+  Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
+  Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
+  Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
+  When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
+  Of watching the last hour of him who led them_.
+
+  (Act I Scene 2.)
+
+These two passages indicate the right standpoint for the appreciation
+of women.
+
+You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that
+woman is not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of
+the body. She pays the debt of life not by what she does, but by what
+she suffers; by the pains of child-bearing and care for the child,
+and by submission to her husband, to whom she should be a patient and
+cheering companion. The keenest sorrows and joys are not for her, nor
+is she called upon to display a great deal of strength. The current
+of her life should be more gentle, peaceful and trivial than man's,
+without being essentially happier or unhappier.
+
+Women are directly fitted for acting as the nurses and teachers of
+our early childhood by the fact that they are themselves childish,
+frivolous and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all
+their life long--a kind of intermediate stage between the child and
+the full-grown man, who is man in the strict sense of the word. See
+how a girl will fondle a child for days together, dance with it and
+sing to it; and then think what a man, with the best will in the
+world, could do if he were put in her place.
+
+With young girls Nature seems to have had in view what, in the
+language of the drama, is called _a striking effect_; as for a few
+years she dowers them with a wealth of beauty and is lavish in her
+gift of charm, at the expense of all the rest of their life; so that
+during those years they may capture the fantasy of some man to such a
+degree that he is hurried away into undertaking the honorable care of
+them, in some form or other, as long as they live--a step for which
+there would not appear to be any sufficient warranty if reason only
+directed his thoughts. Accordingly, Nature has equipped woman, as she
+does all her creatures, with the weapons and implements requisite
+for the safeguarding of her existence, and for just as long as it is
+necessary for her to have them. Here, as elsewhere, Nature proceeds
+with her usual economy; for just as the female ant, after fecundation,
+loses her wings, which are then superfluous, nay, actually a danger
+to the business of breeding; so, after giving birth to one or two
+children, a woman generally loses her beauty; probably, indeed, for
+similar reasons.
+
+And so we find that young girls, in their hearts, look upon domestic
+affairs or work of any kind as of secondary importance, if not
+actually as a mere jest. The only business that really claims their
+earnest attention is love, making conquests, and everything connected
+with this--dress, dancing, and so on.
+
+The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is
+in arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning
+powers and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a
+woman at eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only
+reason of a sort--very niggard in its dimensions. That is why women
+remain children their whole life long; never seeing anything but
+what is quite close to them, cleaving to the present moment, taking
+appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first
+importance. For it is by virtue of his reasoning faculty that man does
+not live in the present only, like the brute, but looks about him and
+considers the past and the future; and this is the origin of prudence,
+as well as of that care and anxiety which so many people exhibit. Both
+the advantages and the disadvantages which this involves, are shared
+in by the woman to a smaller extent because of her weaker power
+of reasoning. She may, in fact, be described as intellectually
+short-sighted, because, while she has an intuitive understanding of
+what lies quite close to her, her field of vision is narrow and does
+not reach to what is remote; so that things which are absent, or past,
+or to come, have much less effect upon women than upon men. This is
+the reason why women are more often inclined to be extravagant, and
+sometimes carry their inclination to a length that borders upon
+madness. In their hearts, women think that it is men's business
+to earn money and theirs to spend it--- if possible during their
+husband's life, but, at any rate, after his death. The very fact
+that their husband hands them over his earnings for purposes of
+housekeeping, strengthens them in this belief.
+
+However many disadvantages all this may involve, there is at least
+this to be said in its favor; that the woman lives more in the present
+than the man, and that, if the present is at all tolerable, she enjoys
+it more eagerly. This is the source of that cheerfulness which
+is peculiar to women, fitting her to amuse man in his hours of
+recreation, and, in case of need, to console him when he is borne down
+by the weight of his cares.
+
+It is by no means a bad plan to consult women in matters of
+difficulty, as the Germans used to do in ancient times; for their way
+of looking at things is quite different from ours, chiefly in the
+fact that they like to take the shortest way to their goal, and, in
+general, manage to fix their eyes upon what lies before them; while
+we, as a rule, see far beyond it, just because it is in front of our
+noses. In cases like this, we need to be brought back to the right
+standpoint, so as to recover the near and simple view.
+
+Then, again, women are decidedly more sober in their judgment than
+we are, so that they do not see more in things than is really there;
+whilst, if our passions are aroused, we are apt to see things in an
+exaggerated way, or imagine what does not exist.
+
+The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why it is that
+women show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men do, and so treat
+them with more kindness and interest; and why it is that, on the
+contrary, they are inferior to men in point of justice, and less
+honorable and conscientious. For it is just because their reasoning
+power is weak that present circumstances have such a hold over them,
+and those concrete things, which lie directly before their eyes,
+exercise a power which is seldom counteracted to any extent by
+abstract principles of thought, by fixed rules of conduct, firm
+resolutions, or, in general, by consideration for the past and the
+future, or regard for what is absent and remote. Accordingly, they
+possess the first and main elements that go to make a virtuous
+character, but they are deficient in those secondary qualities which
+are often a necessary instrument in the formation of it.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: In this respect they may be compared to an animal
+organism which contains a liver but no gall-bladder. Here let me refer
+to what I have said in my treatise on _The Foundation of Morals_, sec.
+17.]
+
+Hence, it will be found that the fundamental fault of the female
+character is that it has _no sense of justice_. This is mainly due to
+the fact, already mentioned, that women are defective in the powers of
+reasoning and deliberation; but it is also traceable to the position
+which Nature has assigned to them as the weaker sex. They are
+dependent, not upon strength, but upon craft; and hence their
+instinctive capacity for cunning, and their ineradicable tendency to
+say what is not true. For as lions are provided with claws and teeth,
+and elephants and boars with tusks, bulls with horns, and cuttle fish
+with its clouds of inky fluid, so Nature has equipped woman, for her
+defence and protection, with the arts of dissimulation; and all the
+power which Nature has conferred upon man in the shape of physical
+strength and reason, has been bestowed upon women in this form. Hence,
+dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a quality of the
+stupid as of the clever. It is as natural for them to make use of it
+on every occasion as it is for those animals to employ their means of
+defence when they are attacked; they have a feeling that in doing so
+they are only within their rights. Therefore a woman who is perfectly
+truthful and not given to dissimulation is perhaps an impossibility,
+and for this very reason they are so quick at seeing through
+dissimulation in others that it is not a wise thing to attempt it with
+them. But this fundamental defect which I have stated, with all
+that it entails, gives rise to falsity, faithlessness, treachery,
+ingratitude, and so on. Perjury in a court of justice is more
+often committed by women than by men. It may, indeed, be generally
+questioned whether women ought to be sworn in at all. From time to
+time one finds repeated cases everywhere of ladies, who want for
+nothing, taking things from shop-counters when no one is looking, and
+making off with them.
+
+Nature has appointed that the propagation of the species shall be the
+business of men who are young, strong and handsome; so that the race
+may not degenerate. This is the firm will and purpose of Nature in
+regard to the species, and it finds its expression in the passions of
+women. There is no law that is older or more powerful than this. Woe,
+then, to the man who sets up claims and interests that will conflict
+with it; whatever he may say and do, they will be unmercifully crushed
+at the first serious encounter. For the innate rule that governs
+women's conduct, though it is secret and unformulated, nay,
+unconscious in its working, is this: _We are justified in deceiving
+those who think they have acquired rights over the species by paying
+little attention to the individual, that is, to us. The constitution
+and, therefore, the welfare of the species have been placed in our
+hands and committed to our care, through the control we obtain over
+the next generation, which proceeds from us; let us discharge our
+duties conscientiously_. But women have no abstract knowledge of this
+leading principle; they are conscious of it only as a concrete fact;
+and they have no other method of giving expression to it than the
+way in which they act when the opportunity arrives. And then their
+conscience does not trouble them so much as we fancy; for in the
+darkest recesses of their heart, they are aware that in committing a
+breach of their duty towards the individual, they have all the
+better fulfilled their duty towards the species, which is infinitely
+greater.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: A more detailed discussion of the matter in question may
+be found in my chief work, _Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_, vol.
+ii, ch. 44.]
+
+And since women exist in the main solely for the propagation of the
+species, and are not destined for anything else, they live, as a rule,
+more for the species than for the individual, and in their hearts
+take the affairs of the species more seriously than those of the
+individual. This gives their whole life and being a certain levity;
+the general bent of their character is in a direction fundamentally
+different from that of man; and it is this to which produces that
+discord in married life which is so frequent, and almost the normal
+state.
+
+The natural feeling between men is mere indifference, but
+between women it is actual enmity. The reason of this is that
+trade-jealousy--_odium figulinum_--which, in the case of men does not
+go beyond the confines of their own particular pursuit; but, with
+women, embraces the whole sex; since they have only one kind of
+business. Even when they meet in the street, women look at one another
+like Guelphs and Ghibellines. And it is a patent fact that when two
+women make first acquaintance with each other, they behave with more
+constraint and dissimulation than two men would show in a like case;
+and hence it is that an exchange of compliments between two women is a
+much more ridiculous proceeding than between two men. Further, whilst
+a man will, as a general rule, always preserve a certain amount of
+consideration and humanity in speaking to others, even to those who
+are in a very inferior position, it is intolerable to see how proudly
+and disdainfully a fine lady will generally behave towards one who is
+in a lower social rank (I do not mean a woman who is in her service),
+whenever she speaks to her. The reason of this may be that, with
+women, differences of rank are much more precarious than with us;
+because, while a hundred considerations carry weight in our case,
+in theirs there is only one, namely, with which man they have found
+favor; as also that they stand in much nearer relations with one
+another than men do, in consequence of the one-sided nature of their
+calling. This makes them endeavor to lay stress upon differences of
+rank.
+
+It is only the man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulses
+that could give the name of _the fair sex_ to that under-sized,
+narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged race; for the whole
+beauty of the sex is bound up with this impulse. Instead of calling
+them beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as
+the un-aesthetic sex. Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine
+art, have they really and truly any sense or susceptibility; it is a
+mere mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their
+endeavor to please. Hence, as a result of this, they are incapable of
+taking a _purely objective interest_ in anything; and the reason of it
+seems to me to be as follows. A man tries to acquire _direct_ mastery
+over things, either by understanding them, or by forcing them to do
+his will. But a woman is always and everywhere reduced to obtaining
+this mastery _indirectly_, namely, through a man; and whatever direct
+mastery she may have is entirely confined to him. And so it lies in
+woman's nature to look upon everything only as a means for conquering
+man; and if she takes an interest in anything else, it is simulated--a
+mere roundabout way of gaining her ends by coquetry, and feigning what
+she does not feel. Hence, even Rousseau declared: _Women have, in
+general, no love for any art; they have no proper knowledge of any;
+and they have no genius_.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Lettre a d'Alembert, Note xx.]
+
+No one who sees at all below the surface can have failed to remark the
+same thing. You need only observe the kind of attention women bestow
+upon a concert, an opera, or a play--the childish simplicity, for
+example, with which they keep on chattering during the finest passages
+in the greatest masterpieces. If it is true that the Greeks excluded
+women from their theatres they were quite right in what they did;
+at any rate you would have been able to hear what was said upon the
+stage. In our day, besides, or in lieu of saying, _Let a woman keep
+silence in the church_, it would be much to the point to say _Let a
+woman keep silence in the theatre_. This might, perhaps, be put up in
+big letters on the curtain.
+
+And you cannot expect anything else of women if you consider that the
+most distinguished intellects among the whole sex have never managed
+to produce a single achievement in the fine arts that is really great,
+genuine, and original; or given to the world any work of permanent
+value in any sphere. This is most strikingly shown in regard to
+painting, where mastery of technique is at least as much within their
+power as within ours--and hence they are diligent in cultivating it;
+but still, they have not a single great painting to boast of, just
+because they are deficient in that objectivity of mind which is so
+directly indispensable in painting. They never get beyond a subjective
+point of view. It is quite in keeping with this that ordinary women
+have no real susceptibility for art at all; for Nature proceeds in
+strict sequence--_non facit saltum_. And Huarte[1] in his _Examen de
+ingenios para las scienzias_--a book which has been famous for
+three hundred years--denies women the possession of all the higher
+faculties. The case is not altered by particular and partial
+exceptions; taken as a whole, women are, and remain, thorough-going
+Philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd arrangement
+which allows them to share the rank and title of their husbands they
+are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. And, further, it is
+just because they are Philistines that modern society, where they
+take the lead and set the tone, is in such a bad way. Napoleon's
+saying--that _women have no rank_--should be adopted as the right
+standpoint in determining their position in society; and as regards
+their other qualities Chamfort[2] makes the very true remark: _They
+are made to trade with our own weaknesses and our follies, but not
+with our reason. The sympathies that exist between them and men are
+skin-deep only, and do not touch the mind or the feelings or the
+character_. They form the _sexus sequior_--the second sex, inferior in
+every respect to the first; their infirmities should be treated
+with consideration; but to show them great reverence is extremely
+ridiculous, and lowers us in their eyes. When Nature made two
+divisions of the human race, she did not draw the line exactly through
+the middle. These divisions are polar and opposed to each other, it is
+true; but the difference between them is not qualitative merely, it is
+also quantitative.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--- Juan Huarte (1520?-1590)
+practised as a physician at Madrid. The work cited by Schopenhauer is
+known, and has been translated into many languages.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Translator's Note_.--See _Counsels and Maxims_, p. 12,
+Note.]
+
+This is just the view which the ancients took of woman, and the view
+which people in the East take now; and their judgment as to her proper
+position is much more correct than ours, with our old French notions
+of gallantry and our preposterous system of reverence--that highest
+product of Teutonico-Christian stupidity. These notions have served
+only to make women more arrogant and overbearing; so that one is
+occasionally reminded of the holy apes in Benares, who in the
+consciousness of their sanctity and inviolable position, think they
+can do exactly as they please.
+
+But in the West, the woman, and especially the _lady_, finds herself
+in a false position; for woman, rightly called by the ancients,
+_sexus sequior_, is by no means fit to be the object of our honor and
+veneration, or to hold her head higher than man and be on equal terms
+with him. The consequences of this false position are sufficiently
+obvious. Accordingly, it would be a very desirable thing if this
+Number-Two of the human race were in Europe also relegated to her
+natural place, and an end put to that lady nuisance, which not only
+moves all Asia to laughter, but would have been ridiculed by Greece
+and Rome as well. It is impossible to calculate the good effects which
+such a change would bring about in our social, civil and political
+arrangements. There would be no necessity for the Salic law: it would
+be a superfluous truism. In Europe the _lady_, strictly so-called, is
+a being who should not exist at all; she should be either a housewife
+or a girl who hopes to become one; and she should be brought up, not
+to be arrogant, but to be thrifty and submissive. It is just because
+there are such people as _ladies_ in Europe that the women of the
+lower classes, that is to say, the great majority of the sex, are much
+more unhappy than they are in the East. And even Lord Byron says:
+_Thought of the state of women under the ancient Greeks--convenient
+enough. Present state, a remnant of the barbarism of the chivalric
+and the feudal ages--artificial and unnatural. They ought to mind
+home--and be well fed and clothed--but not mixed in society. Well
+educated, too, in religion--but to read neither poetry nor politics--
+nothing but books of piety and cookery. Music--drawing--dancing--also
+a little gardening and ploughing now and then. I have seen them
+mending the roads in Epirus with good success. Why not, as well as
+hay-making and milking_?
+
+The laws of marriage prevailing in Europe consider the woman as the
+equivalent of the man--start, that is to say, from a wrong position.
+In our part of the world where monogamy is the rule, to marry means to
+halve one's rights and double one's duties. Now, when the laws gave
+women equal rights with man, they ought to have also endowed her with
+a masculine intellect. But the fact is, that just in proportion as
+the honors and privileges which the laws accord to women, exceed the
+amount which nature gives, is there a diminution in the number
+of women who really participate in these privileges; and all the
+remainder are deprived of their natural rights by just so much as is
+given to the others over and above their share. For the institution of
+monogamy, and the laws of marriage which it entails, bestow upon
+the woman an unnatural position of privilege, by considering her
+throughout as the full equivalent of the man, which is by no means
+the case; and seeing this, men who are shrewd and prudent very often
+scruple to make so great a sacrifice and to acquiesce in so unfair an
+arrangement.
+
+Consequently, whilst among polygamous nations every woman is provided
+for, where monogamy prevails the number of married women is limited;
+and there remains over a large number of women without stay or
+support, who, in the upper classes, vegetate as useless old maids, and
+in the lower succumb to hard work for which they are not suited; or
+else become _filles de joie_, whose life is as destitute of joy as it
+is of honor. But under the circumstances they become a necessity; and
+their position is openly recognized as serving the special end of
+warding off temptation from those women favored by fate, who have
+found, or may hope to find, husbands. In London alone there are 80,000
+prostitutes. What are they but the women, who, under the institution
+of monogamy have come off worse? Theirs is a dreadful fate: they are
+human sacrifices offered up on the altar of monogamy. The women whose
+wretched position is here described are the inevitable set-off to the
+European lady with her arrogance and pretension. Polygamy is therefore
+a real benefit to the female sex if it is taken as a whole. And, from
+another point of view, there is no true reason why a man whose wife
+suffers from chronic illness, or remains barren, or has gradually
+become too old for him, should not take a second. The motives which
+induce so many people to become converts to Mormonism[1] appear to
+be just those which militate against the unnatural institution of
+monogamy.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The Mormons have recently given up
+polygamy, and received the American franchise in its stead.]
+
+Moreover, the bestowal of unnatural rights upon women has imposed upon
+them unnatural duties, and, nevertheless, a breach of these duties
+makes them unhappy. Let me explain. A man may often think that his
+social or financial position will suffer if he marries, unless he
+makes some brilliant alliance. His desire will then be to win a woman
+of his own choice under conditions other than those of marriage, such
+as will secure her position and that of the children. However fair,
+reasonable, fit and proper these conditions may be, and the woman
+consents by foregoing that undue amount of privilege which marriage
+alone can bestow, she to some extent loses her honor, because marriage
+is the basis of civic society; and she will lead an unhappy life,
+since human nature is so constituted that we pay an attention to the
+opinion of other people which is out of all proportion to its value.
+On the other hand, if she does not consent, she runs the risk either
+of having to be given in marriage to a man whom she does not like, or
+of being landed high and dry as an old maid; for the period during
+which she has a chance of being settled for life is very short. And
+in view of this aspect of the institution of monogamy, Thomasius'
+profoundly learned treatise, _de Concubinatu_, is well worth reading;
+for it shows that, amongst all nations and in all ages, down to the
+Lutheran Reformation, concubinage was permitted; nay, that it was an
+institution which was to a certain extent actually recognized by law,
+and attended with no dishonor. It was only the Lutheran Reformation
+that degraded it from this position. It was seen to be a further
+justification for the marriage of the clergy; and then, after that,
+the Catholic Church did not dare to remain behind-hand in the matter.
+
+There is no use arguing about polygamy; it must be taken as _de facto_
+existing everywhere, and the only question is as to how it shall be
+regulated. Where are there, then, any real monogamists? We all live,
+at any rate, for a time, and most of us, always, in polygamy. And so,
+since every man needs many women, there is nothing fairer than to
+allow him, nay, to make it incumbent upon him, to provide for many
+women. This will reduce woman to her true and natural position as
+a subordinate being; and the _lady_--that monster of European
+civilization and Teutonico-Christian stupidity--will disappear from
+the world, leaving only _women_, but no more _unhappy women_, of whom
+Europe is now full.
+
+In India, no woman is ever independent, but in accordance with the law
+of Mamu,[1] she stands under the control of her father, her husband,
+her brother or her son. It is, to be sure, a revolting thing that a
+widow should immolate herself upon her husband's funeral pyre; but it
+is also revolting that she should spend her husband's money with her
+paramours--the money for which he toiled his whole life long, in the
+consoling belief that he was providing for his children. Happy are
+those who have kept the middle course--_medium tenuere beati_.
+
+[Footnote 1: Ch. V., v. 148.]
+
+The first love of a mother for her child is, with the lower animals as
+with men, of a purely _instinctive_ character, and so it ceases when
+the child is no longer in a physically helpless condition. After that,
+the first love should give way to one that is based on habit and
+reason; but this often fails to make its appearance, especially where
+the mother did not love the father. The love of a father for his child
+is of a different order, and more likely to last; because it has its
+foundation in the fact that in the child he recognizes his own inner
+self; that is to say, his love for it is metaphysical in its origin.
+
+In almost all nations, whether of the ancient or the modern world,
+even amongst the Hottentots,[1] property is inherited by the male
+descendants alone; it is only in Europe that a departure has taken
+place; but not amongst the nobility, however. That the property which
+has cost men long years of toil and effort, and been won with so much
+difficulty, should afterwards come into the hands of women, who then,
+in their lack of reason, squander it in a short time, or otherwise
+fool it away, is a grievance and a wrong as serious as it is common,
+which should be prevented by limiting the right of women to inherit.
+In my opinion, the best arrangement would be that by which women,
+whether widows or daughters, should never receive anything beyond the
+interest for life on property secured by mortgage, and in no case the
+property itself, or the capital, except where all male descendants
+fail. The people who make money are men, not women; and it follows
+from this that women are neither justified in having unconditional
+possession of it, nor fit persons to be entrusted with its
+administration. When wealth, in any true sense of the word, that is to
+say, funds, houses or land, is to go to them as an inheritance they
+should never be allowed the free disposition of it. In their case a
+guardian should always be appointed; and hence they should never be
+given the free control of their own children, wherever it can be
+avoided. The vanity of women, even though it should not prove to be
+greater than that of men, has this much danger in it, that it takes an
+entirely material direction. They are vain, I mean, of their personal
+beauty, and then of finery, show and magnificence. That is just why
+they are so much in their element in society. It is this, too, which
+makes them so inclined to be extravagant, all the more as their
+reasoning power is low. Accordingly we find an ancient writer
+describing woman as in general of an extravagant nature--[Greek: Gynae
+to synolon esti dapanaeron Physei][2] But with men vanity often takes
+the direction of non-material advantages, such as intellect, learning,
+courage.
+
+[Footnote 1: Leroy, _Lettres philosophiques sur l'intelligence et la
+perfectibilite des animaux, avec quelques lettres sur l'homme_, p.
+298, Paris, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Brunck's _Gnomici poetae graeci_, v. 115.]
+
+In the _Politics_[1] Aristotle explains the great disadvantage which
+accrued to the Spartans from the fact that they conceded too much to
+their women, by giving them the right of inheritance and dower, and a
+great amount of independence; and he shows how much this contributed
+to Sparta's fall. May it not be the case in France that the influence
+of women, which went on increasing steadily from the time of Louis
+XIII., was to blame for that gradual corruption of the Court and the
+Government, which brought about the Revolution of 1789, of which all
+subsequent disturbances have been the fruit? However that may be, the
+false position which women occupy, demonstrated as it is, in the most
+glaring way, by the institution of the _lady_, is a fundamental defect
+in our social scheme, and this defect, proceeding from the very heart
+of it, must spread its baneful influence in all directions.
+
+[Footnote 1: Bk. I, ch. 9.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That woman is by nature meant to obey may be seen by the fact that
+every woman who is placed in the unnatural position of complete
+independence, immediately attaches herself to some man, by whom she
+allows herself to be guided and ruled. It is because she needs a lord
+and master. If she is young, it will be a lover; if she is old, a
+priest.
+
+
+
+
+ON NOISE.
+
+
+Kant wrote a treatise on _The Vital Powers_. I should prefer to write
+a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes
+the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved
+a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is
+true--nay, a great many people--who smile at such things, because they
+are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are
+also not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a
+word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that
+the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On
+the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the
+biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their
+personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the
+case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it
+should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the
+matter, it is only for want of an opportunity.
+
+This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a
+large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it
+had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers,
+loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of
+an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its
+attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its
+superiority depends upon its power of concentration--of bringing all
+its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave
+mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon
+it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is
+why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike
+to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and
+distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that
+violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are
+not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and
+intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, _Never
+Interrupt_! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent
+of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but
+also a disruption of thought. Of course, where there is nothing to
+interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it
+happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and
+distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All
+I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking--just as though I
+were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what
+it is. Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most
+inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips--a
+truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets
+of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts
+an end to all quiet thought. That this cracking of whips should be
+allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless
+and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an
+idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden,
+sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of
+reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it
+must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business
+of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker
+its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder,
+much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound,
+be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed
+cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your
+head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a
+sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.
+
+With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really
+cannot see why a fellow who is taking away a wagon-load of gravel or
+dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts
+which may happen to be springing up in ten thousand heads--the number
+he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the
+town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are
+horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the
+crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every
+pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy.
+If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making
+this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite
+the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only
+unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon
+the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it,
+the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted
+feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any
+faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless
+cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is
+proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to
+give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much
+more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to
+crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its
+presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise.
+For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing,
+animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive
+to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances
+of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.
+
+It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure
+wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of
+the community who work with their heads by those who work with their
+hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of
+barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by
+a police-notice to the effect that every lash shall have a knot at the
+end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to
+the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any
+kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow
+who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed
+post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards
+long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and
+receive five really good blows with a stick.
+
+All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting
+to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment,
+will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more
+disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see
+a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses,
+and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch
+become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this
+practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere
+treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be
+the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of
+consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters,
+porters, messengers--these are the beasts of burden amongst mankind;
+by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with
+forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of
+the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many
+great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to
+the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should
+soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association
+of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.
+
+Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations
+will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may
+take example by it and follow suit.[1] Meanwhile, I may quote what
+Thomas Hood says of them[2]: _For a musical nation, they are the most
+noisy I ever met with_. That they are so is due to the fact, not that
+they are more fond of making a noise than other people--they would
+deny it if you asked them--but that their senses are obtuse;
+consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It
+does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do
+not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The
+general toleration of unnecessary noise--the slamming of doors, for
+instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing--is direct evidence
+that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In
+Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever
+think for mere noise--to mention one form of it, the way in which
+drumming goes on for no purpose at all.
+
+[Footnote 1: According to a notice issued by the Society for the
+Protection of Animals in Munich, the superfluous whipping and the
+cracking of whips were, in December, 1858, positively forbidden in
+Nuremberg.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In _Up the Rhine_.]
+
+Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this
+chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I
+refer to a poetical epistle in _terzo rimo_ by the famous painter
+Bronzino, entitled _De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini_. It gives a
+detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the
+various noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragicomic style,
+it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in _Opere burlesche del
+Berni, Aretino ed altri_, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in
+Utrecht in 1771.
+
+
+
+
+A FEW PARABLES.
+
+
+In a field of ripening corn I came to a place which had been trampled
+down by some ruthless foot; and as I glanced amongst the countless
+stalks, every one of them alike, standing there so erect and bearing
+the full weight of the ear, I saw a multitude of different flowers,
+red and blue and violet. How pretty they looked as they grew there so
+naturally with their little foliage! But, thought I, they are quite
+useless; they bear no fruit; they are mere weeds, suffered to remain
+only because there is no getting rid of them. And yet, but for these
+flowers, there would be nothing to charm the eye in that wilderness
+of stalks. They are emblematic of poetry and art, which, in civic
+life--so severe, but still useful and not without its fruit--play the
+same part as flowers in the corn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are some really beautifully landscapes in the world, but the
+human figures in them are poor, and you had not better look at them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The fly should be used as the symbol of impertinence and audacity; for
+whilst all other animals shun man more than anything else, and run
+away even before he comes near them, the fly lights upon his very
+nose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two Chinamen traveling in Europe went to the theatre for the first
+time. One of them did nothing but study the machinery, and he
+succeeded in finding out how it was worked. The other tried to get at
+the meaning of the piece in spite of his ignorance of the language.
+Here you have the Astronomer and the Philosopher.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wisdom which is only theoretical and never put into practice, is like
+a double rose; its color and perfume are delightful, but it withers
+away and leaves no seed.
+
+No rose without a thorn. Yes, but many a thorn without a rose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A wide-spreading apple-tree stood in full bloom, and behind it a
+straight fir raised its dark and tapering head. _Look at the thousands
+of gay blossoms which cover me everywhere_, said the apple-tree; _what
+have you to show in comparison? Dark-green needles! That is true_,
+replied the fir, _but when winter comes, you will be bared of your
+glory; and I shall be as I am now_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once, as I was botanizing under an oak, I found amongst a number
+of other plants of similar height one that was dark in color, with
+tightly closed leaves and a stalk that was very straight and stiff.
+When I touched it, it said to me in firm tones: _Let me alone; I am
+not for your collection, like these plants to which Nature has given
+only a single year of life. I am a little oak_.
+
+So it is with a man whose influence is to last for hundreds of years.
+As a child, as a youth, often even as a full-grown man, nay, his whole
+life long, he goes about among his fellows, looking like them and
+seemingly as unimportant. But let him alone; he will not die. Time
+will come and bring those who know how to value him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The man who goes up in a balloon does not feel as though he were
+ascending; he only sees the earth sinking deeper under him.
+
+There is a mystery which only those will understand who feel the truth
+of it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Your estimation of a man's size will be affected by the distance at
+which you stand from him, but in two entirely opposite ways according
+as it is his physical or his mental stature that you are considering.
+The one will seem smaller, the farther off you move; the other,
+greater.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nature covers all her works with a varnish of beauty, like the tender
+bloom that is breathed, as it were, on the surface of a peach or a
+plum. Painters and poets lay themselves out to take off this varnish,
+to store it up, and give it us to be enjoyed at our leisure. We drink
+deep of this beauty long before we enter upon life itself; and when
+afterwards we come to see the works of Nature for ourselves, the
+varnish is gone: the artists have used it up and we have enjoyed it in
+advance. Thus it is that the world so often appears harsh and devoid
+of charm, nay, actually repulsive. It were better to leave us to
+discover the varnish for ourselves. This would mean that we should
+not enjoy it all at once and in large quantities; we should have no
+finished pictures, no perfect poems; but we should look at all things
+in that genial and pleasing light in which even now a child of Nature
+sometimes sees them--some one who has not anticipated his aesthetic
+pleasures by the help of art, or taken the charms of life too early.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Cathedral in Mayence is so shut in by the houses that are built
+round about it, that there is no one spot from which you can see it
+as a whole. This is symbolic of everything great or beautiful in the
+world. It ought to exist for its own sake alone, but before very long
+it is misused to serve alien ends. People come from all directions
+wanting to find in it support and maintenance for themselves; they
+stand in the way and spoil its effect. To be sure, there is nothing
+surprising in this, for in a world of need and imperfection everything
+is seized upon which can be used to satisfy want. Nothing is exempt
+from this service, no, not even those very things which arise only
+when need and want are for a moment lost sight of--the beautiful and
+the true, sought for their own sakes.
+
+This is especially illustrated and corroborated in the case of
+institutions--whether great or small, wealthy or poor, founded, no
+matter in what century or in what land, to maintain and advance human
+knowledge, and generally to afford help to those intellectual efforts
+which ennoble the race. Wherever these institutions may be, it is not
+long before people sneak up to them under the pretence of wishing to
+further those special ends, while they are really led on by the desire
+to secure the emoluments which have been left for their furtherance,
+and thus to satisfy certain coarse and brutal instincts of their own.
+Thus it is that we come to have so many charlatans in every branch
+of knowledge. The charlatan takes very different shapes according
+to circumstances; but at bottom he is a man who cares nothing about
+knowledge for its own sake, and only strives to gain the semblance
+of it that he may use it for his own personal ends, which are always
+selfish and material.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of
+the weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he
+crushes both them and himself. Or he is like Gulliver at Lilliput,
+overwhelmed by an enormous number of little men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A mother gave her children Aesop's fables to read, in the hope of
+educating and improving their minds; but they very soon brought the
+book back, and the eldest, wise beyond his years, delivered himself as
+follows: _This is no book for us; it's much too childish and stupid.
+You can't make us believe that foxes and wolves and ravens are able to
+talk; we've got beyond stories of that kind_!
+
+In these young hopefuls you have the enlightened Rationalists of the
+future.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in
+winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills,
+they were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together
+again, when just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of
+huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off
+by remaining at a little distance from one another. In the same way
+the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be
+mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of
+their nature. The moderate distance which they at last discover to be
+the only tolerable condition of intercourse, is the code of politeness
+and fine manners; and those who transgress it are roughly told--in
+the English phrase--_to keep their distance_. By this arrangement the
+mutual need of warmth is only very moderately satisfied; but then
+people do not get pricked. A man who has some heat in himself prefers
+to remain outside, where he will neither prick other people nor get
+pricked himself.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER;
+STUDIES IN PESSIMISM***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 10732.txt or 10732.zip *******
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