or
with Lear or with Othello or with Macbeth, that we instinctively take
it all for true psychology, while it after all covers just the
exceptional cases of the dramatic situation.

No! If we are to seek real generalities, we must not consult the
playwright. Perhaps we may find the best conditions for general
statement where we do not even have to deal with an individual, but
can listen to the mind of the race and can absorb its wisdom from its
proverbs. Let us take the word proverb in its widest sense, including
popular sayings which have not really the stamp of the proverb. There
is surely no lack of sharply coined psychology. This is true of all
countries. I find the harvest richest in the field of the German
proverbs, but almost as many in the field of the English, and a large
number of sayings are common to the two countries. Very
characteristic psychological remarks can be found among the Russian
proverbs, and not a few among those in Yiddish. But this type of
psychology is sufficiently characterized, if we confine ourselves here
to the English proverbial phrases. Often they need a commentary in
order to be understood in their psychological truth. We hear in almost
all countries: "Children and fools speak the truth." As a matter of
course we all know that their chance of speaking the objective truth
is very small. What is psychologically tenable is only that they are
unable to hide the subjective truth. Many such phrases are simply
epigrams where the pleasure in the play of words must be a substitute
for the psychological truth; for instance: "Long hair and short wit."
Not a few contradict one another, and yet there is not a little wisdom
in sayings like these: "Beware of a silent dog and still water";
"Misery loves company"; "Hasty love is soon hot and soon cold"; "Dogs
that put up many hares kill none"; "He that will steal an egg will
steal an ox"; "Idle folks have the least leisure"; "Maids say no and
take"; "A boaster and a liar are cousins german"; "A young twig is
easier twisted than an old tree"; "Imitation is the sincerest
flattery"; "Pride joined with many virtues chokes them all";
"Offenders never pardon"; "The more wit, the less courage"; "We are
more mindful of injuries than of benefits"; "Where there's a will,
there's a way"; "An idle brain is the devil's workshop"; "Anger and
haste hinder good counsel"; "Wise men change their minds, fools
never"; "Sudden joy kills sooner than excessive grief"; "Lazy