CONTEMPT FOR MEN.--The most unequivocal sign of contempt for man is to regard everybody merely as a means to _one's own_ ends, or of no account whatever. 525. PARTISANS THROUGH CONTRADICTION.--Whoever has driven men to fury against himself has also gained a party in his favour. 526. FORGETTING EXPERIENCES.--Whoever thinks much and to good purpose easily forgets his own experiences, but not the thoughts which these experiences have called forth. 527. STICKING TO AN OPINION.--One person sticks to an opinion because he takes pride in having acquired it himself,--another sticks to it because he has learnt it with difficulty and is proud of having understood it; both of them, therefore, out of vanity. 528. AVOIDING THE LIGHT.--Good deeds avoid the light just as anxiously as evil deeds; the latter fear that pain will result from publicity (as punishment), the former fear that pleasure will vanish with publicity (the pure pleasure _per se,_ which ceases as soon as satisfaction of vanity is added to it). 529. THE LENGTH OF THE DAY.--When one has much to put into them, a day has a hundred pockets. 530. THE GENIUS OF TYRANNY.--When an invincible desire to obtain tyrannical power has been awakened in the soul, and constantly keeps up its fervour, even a very mediocre talent (in politicians, artists, etc.) gradually becomes an almost irresistible natural force. 531. THE ENEMY'S LIFE.--He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy's life.[1] 532. MORE IMPORTANT.--Unexplained, obscure matters are regarded as more important than explained, clear ones. 533. VALUATION OF SERVICES RENDERED.--We estimate services rendered to us according to the value set on them by those who render them, not according to the value they have for us. 534. UNHAPPINESS.--The distinction associated with unhappiness (as if it were a sign of stupidity, unambitiousness, or commonplaceness to feel happy) is so great that when any one says to us, "How happy you are!" we usually protest. 535. IMAGINATION IN ANGUISH.--When one is afraid of anything, one's imagination plays the part of that evil spirit which springs on one's back just when one has the heaviest load to bear. 536. THE VALUE OF INSIPID OPPONENTS.--We sometimes remain faithful to a cause merely because its opponents never cease to be insipid. 537. THE VALUE OF A PROFESSION.--A profession makes us thoughtless; that is its greatest blessing. For it is a bulwark behind which we are permitted to withdraw when commonplace doubts and cares assail us. 538. TALENT.--Many a man's talent appears less than it is, because he has always set himself too heavy tasks. 539. YOUTH.--Youth is an unpleasant period; for then it is not possible or not prudent to be productive in any sense whatsoever. 540.