_Work._—How close work and the workers now stand even to the most leisurely of us! The royal courtesy in the words: "We are all workers," would have been a cynicism and an indecency even under Louis XIV.
_The Thinker._—He is a thinker: that is to say, he knows how to take things more simply than they are.
_Against Eulogisers._—A: "One is only praised by one's equals!" B: "Yes! And he who praises you says: 'You are my equal!'"
_Against many a Vindication._—The most perfidious manner of injuring a cause is to vindicate it intentionally with fallacious arguments.
_The Good-natured._—What is it that distinguishes the good-natured, whose countenances beam kindness, from other people? They feel quite at ease in presence of a new person, and are quickly enamoured of him; they therefore wish him well; their first opinion is: "He pleases me." With them there follow in succession the wish to appropriate (they make little scruple about the person's worth), rapid appropriation, joy in the possession, and actions in favour of the person possessed.
_Kant's Joke._—Kant tried to prove, in a way that dismayed "everybody," that "everybody" was in the right:—that was his secret joke. He wrote against the learned, in favour of popular prejudice; he wrote, however, for the learned and not for the people.
_The "Open-hearted" Man._—That man acts probably always from concealed motives; for he has always communicable motives on his tongue, and almost in his open hand.
_Laughable!_—See! See! He runs _away_ from men—: they follow him, however, because he runs _before_ them,—they are such a gregarious lot!
_The Limits of our Sense of Hearing._—We hear only the questions to which we are capable of finding an answer.
_Caution therefore!_—There is nothing we are fonder of communicating to others than the seal of secrecy—together with what is under it.
_Vexation of the Proud Man._—The proud man is vexed even with those who help him forward: he looks angrily at his carriage-horses!
_Liberality._—Liberality is often only a form of timidity in the rich.
_Laughing._—To laugh means to love mischief, but with a good conscience.
_In Applause._—In applause there is always some kind of noise: even in self-applause.