Human, All Too Human Volume Ii Part 55

239.

WHY BEGGARS STILL LIVE.-If all alms were given only out of compa.s.sion, the whole tribe of beggars would long since have died of starvation.

240.

WHY BEGGARS STILL LIVE.-The greatest of almsgivers is cowardice.

241.

HOW THE THINKER MAKES USE OF A CONVERSATION.-Without being eavesdroppers, we can hear a good deal if we are able to see well, and at the same time to let ourselves occasionally get out of our own sight. But people do not know how to make use of a conversation. They pay far too much attention to what _they_ want to say and reply, whereas the true listener is often contented to make a provisional answer and to say something merely as a payment on account of politeness, but on the other hand, with his memory lurking in ambush, carries away with him all that the other said, together with his tones and gestures in speaking.-In ordinary conversation every one thinks _he_ is the leader, just as if two s.h.i.+ps, sailing side by side and giving each other a slight push here and there, were each firmly convinced that the other s.h.i.+p was following or even being towed.

242.

THE ART OF EXCUSING ONESELF.-If some one excuses himself to us, he has to make out a very good case, otherwise we readily come to feel ourselves the culprits, and experience an unpleasant emotion.

243.

IMPOSSIBLE INTERCOURSE.-The s.h.i.+p of your thoughts goes too deep for you to be able to travel with it in the waters of these friendly, decorous, obliging people. There are too many shallows and sandbanks: you would have to tack and turn, and would find yourself continually at your wits' end, and they would soon also be in perplexity as to _your_ perplexity, the reason for which they cannot divine.

244.

THE FOX OF FOXES.-A true fox not only calls sour the grapes he cannot reach, but also those he has reached and s.n.a.t.c.hed from the grasp of others.

245.

IN INTIMATE INTERCOURSE.-However closely men are connected, there are still all the four quarters of the heavens in their common horizon, and at times they become aware of this fact.

246.

THE SILENCE OF DISGUST.-Behold! some one undergoes a thorough and painful transformation as thinker and human being, and makes a public avowal of the change. And those who hear him see nothing, and still believe he is the same as before! This common experience has already disgusted many writers. They had rated the intellectuality of mankind too highly, and made a vow to be silent as soon as they became aware of their mistake.

247.

BUSINESS SERIOUSNESS.-The business of many rich and eminent men is their form of recreation from too long periods of habitual leisure. They then become as serious and impa.s.sioned as other people do in their rare moments of leisure and amus.e.m.e.nt.

248.

THE EYE'S DOUBLE SENSE.-Just as a sudden scaly ripple runs over the waters at your feet, so there are similar sudden uncertainties and ambiguities in the human eye. They lead to the question: is it a shudder, or a smile, or both?

249.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE.-This thinker needs no one to refute him-he is quite capable of doing that himself.

250.

THE REVENGE OF THE EMPTY NETS.-Above all we should beware of those who have the bitter feeling of the fisherman who after a hard day's work comes home in the evening with nets empty.

251.