Basic Writings

Mixed Thoughts

Mixed Thoughts 308 So-called good company tends to be bad company to itself, and vice versa. 309 To maintain oneself easily on the surface of the social element,one must not have a greater specific gravity than this element. Otherwise one sinks under , like a stone in water. 310 One pronounces the name of the person introduced more clearly the more distinguished it sounds, and conversely. 311 We emphasize differences in status in relation to persons who stand only slightly beneath us more sharply than in relation to those who stand far beneath us. 312 The person who is always afraid of being a nuisance is the biggest nuisance . 313 A person of whose propriety we have a high opinion does nothing with impropriety. 314 A universally loved person has mediocre virtues and mediocre vices. 315 A company of genteel fools sees the embarrassment with which a scholar moves among them not without satisfaction. Yet they should reflect that it is only their stupidity that makes him so embarrassed. 316 Good manners are an entry pass with which defects of every kind are admitted very readily in society, whereas a person with poor manners, whatever other qualities he may have, is merely tolerated in society. 317 Whoever concerns himself only with the kernel of things runs up against the world where only the shell matters, that is, pretty much everywhere. 318 Only the person who behaves with impudence can commit great lapses in form without being punished. 319 Persons standing beneath us are easily charmed by us: we need only show them a little friendliness. In contrast, it is difficult to make people standing higher favorable: this requires knowledge of human nature,self-control,and perhaps lack of character. 320 We can find comfort for the fact that we do not please in society in the nature of those who do please there. 321 Whenever we reveal some clumsiness, tactlessness, or ignorance, in no time we find a perspective that completely excuses us. However, if others slip mixed thoughts 51 52 part 1: psychological observations even to the slightest extent,it remains incomprehensible to us why shame does not make them sink into the ground or leave the country. 322 Tactful people who are aware of what wounds others appear better than they are. For they behave tactfully not so much from natural kindliness as because they do not want to be seen as unkind. Tactless people appear worse than they are. For they quite often wound but do not notice that they are wounding. 323 Important people find social chatter just as difficult as boring people find conversation about important subjects. 324 Anyone who wants to hide a feeling usually displays the opposite to an unnaturally high degree. 325 Whoever does something improper with boldness conveys his apparent or real conviction that it had to be done, at least to some extent, even to the onlooker. Whoever does something improper with anxiety or embarrassment appears to have the conviction that it did not have to be done,and this is conveyed very strongly to the onlooker. 326 Candor is the privilege of the superior. 327 Someone who lets a good opportunity pass by seldom knows to wait until the next good opportunity. 328 We displease our superiors more when we are too clever than when we are too stupid. One must hit upon just the right mean that pleases them. 329 People would not live together in society if they were without vanity. 330 Most people would perish of boredom if their vanity did not motivate them. 331 Whether the world speaks well or badly of us depends least of all on whether we are actually good or bad. 332 The aristocracy has always borne itself and behaved as demanded by harmony and beauty. So arose the (inherited) aristocratic appearance. The bourgeois has always borne himself and behaved as demanded by utility and daily work. So arose the (equally inherited) bourgeois appearance. 333 That we scorn the person who places so much weight on good form does not prevent us from also mocking the person who lacks good form. 334 People always think of us differently than we believe. 335 To find out how others speak about us,we need only recall how we speak of them. 336 Everyone is confined within the circle of his inclinations and tastes: they appear...