.

427

A Spinoza in poetry becomes a Machiavelli in philosophy.

428

Against the three unities there is nothing to be said, if the subject is
very simple; but there are times when thrice three unities, skilfully
interwoven, produce a very pleasant effect.

429

The sentimentality of the English is humorous and tender; of the French,
popular and pathetic; of the Germans, naive and realistic.

430

Mysticism is the scholastic of the heart, the dialectic of the feelings.

431

If a man sets out to reproach an author with obscurity, he should first
of all examine his own mind, to see if he is himself all clearness
within. Twilight makes even plain writing illegible.

432

It is with books as with new acquaintances. At first we are highly
delighted, if we find a general agreement,--if we are pleasantly moved
on any of the chief sides of our existence. With a closer acquaintance
differences come to light; and then reasonable conduct mainly consists
in not shrinking back at once, as may happen in youth, but in keeping
firm hold of the things in which we agree, and being quite clear about
the things in which we differ, without on that account desiring any
union.

433

In psychological reflection the greatest difficulty is this: that inner
and outer must always be viewed in parallel lines, or, rather,
interwoven. It is a continual systole and diastole, an inspiration and
an expiration of the living soul. If this cannot be put into words, it
should be carefully marked and noted.

434

My relations with Schiller rested on the decided tendency of both of us
towards a single aim, and our common activity rested on the diversity of
the means by which we endeavoured to attain that aim.

435

Once when a slight difference was mentioned between us, of which I was
reminded by a passage in a letter of his, I made the following
reflections: There is a great difference between a poet seeking the
particular for the universal, and seeing the universal in the
particular. The one gives rise to Allegory, where the particular serves
only as instance or example of the general; but the other is the true
nature of Poetry, namely, the expression of the particular without any
thought of, or reference to, the general. If a man grasps the particular
vividly, he also grasps the general, without being aware of it at the
time; or he may make the discovery long afterwards.

436

There may be eclectic philosophers, but not an e