Human, All-Too-Human: A Book for Free Spirits, Part 2
Nietzsche · en
“THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.”—If we are clever, the one thing we need is to
have joy in our hearts. “Ah,” adds some one, “if we are clever, the best
thing we can do is to be wise.”
301.
A SIGN OF LOVE.—Some one said, “There are two persons about whom I have
never thought deeply. That is a sign of my love for them.”
302.
HOW WE SEEK TO IMPROVE BAD ARGUMENTS.—Many a man adds a bit of his
personality to his bad arguments, as if they would thus go better and
change into straight and good arguments. In the same way, players at
skittles, even after a throw, try to give a direction to the ball by turns
and gestures.
303.
HONESTY.—It is but a small thing to be a pattern sort of man with regard
to rights and property—for instance (to name trifling points, which of
course give a better proof of this sort of pattern nature than great
examples), if as a boy one never steals fruit from another’s orchard, and
as a man never walks on unmown fields. It is but little; you are then
still only a “law-abiding person,” with just that degree of morality of
which a “society,” a group of human beings, is capable.
304.
“MAN!”—What is the vanity of the vainest individual as compared with the
vanity which the most modest person feels when he thinks of his position
in nature and in the world as “Man!”
305.
THE MOST NECESSARY GYMNASTIC.—Through deficiency in self-control in small
matters a similar deficiency on great occasions slowly arises. Every day
on which we have not at least once denied ourselves some _trifle_ is
turned to bad use and a danger to the next day. This gymnastic is
indispensable if we wish to maintain the joy of being our own master.
306.
LOSING OURSELVES.—When we have first found ourselves, we must understand
how from time to time to _lose_ ourselves and then to find ourselves
again.—This is true on the assumption that we are thinkers. A thinker
finds it a drawback always to be tied to one person.
307.
WHEN IT IS NECESSARY TO PART.—You must, for a time at least, part from
that which you want to know and measure. Only when you have left a city do
you see how high its towers rise above its houses.
308.