The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, a Dialogue, Etc.Schopenhauer, Arthur
Philosophy
The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, a Dialogue, Etc.
Schopenhauer, Arthur
Philosophy; Religion
Still, I wish some one would attempt a _tragical_ history of literature,
giving the way in which the writers and artists, who form the proudest
possession of the various nations which have given them birth, have been
treated by them during their lives. Such a history would exhibit the
ceaseless warfare, which what was good and genuine in all times and
countries has had to wage with what was bad and perverse. It would tell
of the martyrdom of almost all those who truly enlightened humanity, of
almost all the great masters of every kind of art: it would show us how,
with few exceptions, they were tormented to death, without recognition,
without sympathy, without followers; how they lived in poverty and
misery, whilst fame, honor, and riches, were the lot of the unworthy;
how their fate was that of Esau, who while he was hunting and getting
venison for his father, was robbed of the blessing by Jacob, disguised
in his brother's clothes, how, in spite of all, they were kept up by the
love of their work, until at last the bitter fight of the teacher of
humanity is over, until the immortal laurel is held out to him, and the
hour strikes when it can be said:
Der sehwere Panzer wird zum Flügelkleide
Kurz ist der Schmerz, unendlich ist die Freude.
PHYSIOGNOMY.
That the outer man is a picture of the inner, and the face an expression
and revelation of the whole character, is a presumption likely enough in
itself, and therefore a safe one to go by; evidenced as it is by the
fact that people are always anxious to see anyone who has made himself
famous by good or evil, or as the author of some extraordinary work; or
if they cannot get a sight of him, to hear at any rate from others what
he looks like. So people go to places where they may expect to see the
person who interests them; the press, especially in England, endeavors
to give a minute and striking description of his appearance; painters
and engravers lose no time in putting him visibly before us; and finally
photography, on that very account of such high value, affords the most
complete satisfaction of our curiosity. It is also a fact that in
private life everyone criticises the physiognomy of those he comes
across, first of all secretly trying to discern their intellectual and
moral character from their features. This would be a useless proceeding
if, as some foolish people fancy, the exterior of a man is a matter of
no account; if, as they think, the soul is one thing and the body
another, and the body related to the soul merely as the coat to the man
himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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