EXCEPTIONALLY VAIN.--He who is usually self-sufficient becomes exceptionally vain, and keenly alive to fame and praise when he is physically ill. The more he loses himself the more he has to endeavour to regain his position by means of the opinion of others.
THE "WITTY."--Those who seek wit do not possess it.
A HINT TO THE HEADS OF PARTIES.--When one can make people publicly support a cause they have also generally been brought to the point of inwardly declaring themselves in its favour, because they wish to be regarded as consistent.
CONTEMPT.--Man is more sensitive to the contempt of others than to self-contempt.
THE TIE OF GRATITUDE.--There are servile souls who carry so far their sense of obligation for benefits received that they strangle themselves with the tie of gratitude.
THE PROPHET'S KNACK.--In predicting beforehand the procedure of ordinary individuals, it must be taken for granted that they always make use of the smallest intellectual expenditure in freeing themselves from disagreeable situations.
MAN'S SOLE RIGHT.--He who swerves from the traditional is a victim of the unusual; he who keeps to the traditional is its slave. The man is ruined in either case.
BELOW THE BEAST.--When a man roars with laughter he surpasses all the animals by his vulgarity.
PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE.--He who speaks a foreign language imperfectly has more enjoyment therein than he who speaks it well. The enjoyment is with the partially initiated.
DANGEROUS HELPFULNESS.--There are people who wish to make human life harder for no other reason than to be able afterwards to offer men their life-alleviating recipes--their Christianity, for example.
INDUSTRIOUSNESS AND CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.--Industriousness and conscientiousness are often antagonists, owing to the fact that industriousness wants to pluck the fruit sour from the tree while conscientiousness wants to let it hang too long, until it falls and is bruised.
CASTING SUSPICION.--We endeavour to cast suspicion on persons whom we cannot endure.
THE CONDITIONS ARE LACKING.--Many people wait all their lives for the opportunity to be good in _their own way._
LACK OF FRIENDS.--Lack of friends leads to the inference that a person is envious or presumptuous. Many a man owes his friends merely to the fortunate circumstance that he has no occasion for envy.