THE RELATIVES OF A SUICIDE.--The relatives of a suicide take it in ill part that he did not remain alive out of consideration for their reputation. 323. INGRATITUDE FORESEEN.--He who makes a large gift gets no gratitude; for the recipient is already overburdened by the acceptance of the gift. 324. IN DULL SOCIETY.--Nobody thanks a witty man for politeness when he puts himself on a par with a society in which it would not be polite to show one's wit. 325. THE PRESENCE OF WITNESSES.--We are doubly willing to jump into the water after some one who has fallen in, if there are people present who have not the courage to do so. 326. BEING SILENT.--For both parties in a controversy, the most disagreeable way of retaliating is to be vexed and silent; for the aggressor usually regards the silence as a sign of contempt. 327. FRIENDS' SECRETS.--Few people will not expose the private affairs of their friends when at a loss for a subject of conversation. 328. HUMANITY.--The humanity of intellectual celebrities consists in courteously submitting to unfairness in intercourse with those who are I not celebrated. 329. THE EMBARRASSED.--People who do not feel sure of themselves in society seize every opportunity of publicly showing their superiority to close friends, for instance by teasing them. 330. THANKS.--A refined nature is vexed by knowing that some one owes it thanks, a coarse nature by knowing that it owes thanks to some one. 331. A SIGN OF ESTRANGEMENT.--The surest sign of the estrangement of the opinions of two persons is when they both say something ironical to each other and neither of them feels the irony. 332. PRESUMPTION IN CONNECTION WITH MERIT.--Presumption in connection with merit offends us even more than presumption in persons devoid of merit, for merit in itself offends us. 333. DANGER IN THE VOICE.--In conversation we are sometimes confused by the tone of our own voice, and misled to make assertions that do not at all correspond to our opinions. 334. IN CONVERSATION.--Whether in conversation with others we mostly agree or mostly disagree with them is a matter of habit; there is sense in both cases. 335. FEAR OF OUR NEIGHBOUR.--We are afraid of the animosity of our neighbour, because we are apprehensive that he may thereby discover our secrets. 336. DISTINGUISHING BY BLAMING.--Highly respected persons distribute even their blame in such fashion that they try to distinguish us therewith. It is intended to remind us of their serious interest in us. We misunderstand them entirely when we take their blame literally and protest against it; we thereby offend them and estrange ourselves from them. 337.