FROM THE YOUTHFUL SOUL.--Youths varyingly show devotion and impudence towards the same person, because at bottom they only despise or admire themselves in that other person, and between the two feelings but stagger to and fro in themselves, so long as they have not found in experience the measure of their will and ability.
FOR THE AMELIORATION OF THE WORLD.--If we forbade the discontented, the sullen, and the atrabilious to propagate, we might transform the world into a garden of happiness.--This aphorism belongs to a practical philosophy for the female sex.
NOT TO DISTRUST YOUR EMOTIONS.--The feminine phrase "Do not distrust your emotions" does not mean much more than "Eat what tastes good to you." This may also, especially for moderate natures, be a good everyday rule. But other natures must live according to another maxim: "You must eat not only with your mouth but also with your brain, in order that the greediness of your mouth may not prove your undoing."
A CRUEL FANCY OF LOVE.--Every great love involves the cruel thought of killing the object of love, so that it may be removed once for all from the mischievous play of change. For love is more afraid of change than of destruction.
DOORS.--In everything that is learnt or experienced, the child, just like the man, sees doors; but for the former they are places to go _to_, for the latter to go _through_.
SYMPATHETIC WOMEN.--The sympathy of women, which is talkative, takes the sick-bed to market.
EARLY MERIT.--He who acquires merit early in life tends to forget all reverence for age and old people, and accordingly, greatly to his disadvantage, excludes himself from the society of the mature, those who confer maturity. Thus in spite of his early merit he remains green, importunate, and boyish longer than others.
SOULS ALL OF A PIECE.--Women and artists think that where we do not contradict them we cannot. Reverence on ten counts and silent disapproval on ten others appears to them an impossible combination, because their souls are all of a piece.
YOUNG TALENTS.--With respect to young talents we must strictly follow Goethe's maxim, that we should often avoid harming error in order to avoid harming truth. Their condition is like the diseases of pregnancy, and involves strange appetites. These appetites should be satisfied and humoured as far as possible, for the sake of the fruit they may be expected to produce. It is true that, as nurse of these remarkable invalids, one must learn the difficult art of voluntary self-abasement.
