_Egoism._--Egoism is the _perspective_ law of our sentiment, according to which the near appears large and momentous, while in the distance the magnitude and importance of all things diminish.
_After a Great Victory._--The best thing in a great victory is that it deprives the conqueror of the fear of defeat. "Why should I not be worsted for once?" he says to himself, "I am now rich enough to stand it."
_Those who Seek Repose._--I recognise the minds that seek repose by the many _dark_ objects with which they surround themselves: those who want to sleep darken their chambers, or creep into caverns. A hint to those who do not know what they really seek most, and would like to know!
_The Happiness of Renunciation._--He who has absolutely dispensed with something for a long time will almost imagine, when he accidentally meets with it again, that he has discovered it,--and what happiness every discoverer has! Let us be wiser than the serpents that lie too long in the same sunshine.
_Always in our own Society._--All that is akin to me in nature and history speaks to me, praises me, urges me forward and comforts me--: other things are unheard by me, or immediately forgotten. We are only in our own society always.
_Misanthropy and Philanthropy._--We only speak about being sick of men when we can no longer digest them, and yet have the stomach full of them. Misanthropy is the result of a far too eager philanthropy and "cannibalism,"--but who ever bade you swallow men like oysters, my Prince Hamlet?
_Concerning an Invalid._--"Things go badly with him!"--What is wrong?--" He suffers from the longing to be praised, and finds no sustenance for it."--Inconceivable! All the world does honour to him, and he is reverenced not only in deed but in word!--"Certainly, but he is dull of hearing for the praise. When a friend praises him it sounds to him as if the friend praised himself; when an enemy praises him, it sounds to him as if the enemy wanted to be praised for it; when, finally, some one else praises him--there are by no means so many of these, he is so famous!--he is offended because they neither want him for a friend nor for an enemy; he is accustomed to say: 'What do I care for those who can still pose as the all-righteous towards me!'"