Volume Ii Part 56 (1/2)

NON-a.s.sERTION OF OUR RIGHTS.-The exertion of power is laborious and demands courage. That is why so many do not a.s.sert their most valid rights, because their rights are a kind of power, and they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise them. _Indulgence_ and _patience_ are the names given to the virtues that cloak these faults.

252.

BEARERS OF LIGHT.-In Society there would be no suns.h.i.+ne if the born flatterers (I mean the so-called amiable people) did not bring some in with them.

253.

WHEN MOST BENEVOLENT.-When a man has been highly honoured and has eaten a little, he is most benevolent.

254.

TO THE LIGHT.-Men press forward to the light not in order to see better but to s.h.i.+ne better.-The person before whom we s.h.i.+ne we gladly allow to be called a light.

255.

THE HYPOCHONDRIAC.-The hypochondriac is a man who has just enough intellect and pleasure in the intellect to take his sorrows, his losses, and his mistakes seriously. But the field on which he grazes is too small: he crops it so close that in the end he has to look for single stalks.

Thus he finally becomes envious and avaricious-and only then is he unbearable.

256.

GIVING IN RETURN.-Hesiod advises us to give the neighbour who has helped us good measure and, if possible, fuller measure in return, as soon as we have the power. For this is where the neighbour's pleasure comes in, since his former benevolence brings him interest. Moreover, he who gives in return also has his pleasure, inasmuch as, by giving a little more than he got, he redeems the slight humiliation of being compelled to seek aid.

257.

MORE SUBTLE THAN IS NECESSARY.-Our sense of observation for how far others perceive our weaknesses is far more subtle than our sense of observation for the weaknesses of others. It follows that the first-named sense is more subtle than is necessary.