an never be, just because he
wishes it, this is in reality the state described as "desperation."

* * * * *

That we are so often deceived in others is not because our judgment is
at fault, but because in general, as Bacon says, _intellectus luminis
sicci non est, sed recipit infusionem a voluntate et affectibus_: that
is to say, trifles unconsciously bias us for or against a person from
the very beginning. It may also be explained by our not abiding by the
qualities which we really discover; we go on to conclude the presence of
others which we think inseparable from them, or the absence of those
which we consider incompatible. For instance, when we perceive
generosity, we infer justice; from piety, we infer honesty; from lying,
deception; from deception, stealing, etc.; a procedure which opens the
door to many false views, partly because human nature is so strange,
partly because our standpoint is so one-sided. It is true, indeed, that
character always forms a consistent and connected whole; but the roots
of all its qualities lie too deep to allow of our concluding from
particular data in a given case whether certain qualities can or cannot
exist together.

* * * * *

We often happen to say things that may in some way or other be
prejudicial to us; but we keep silent about things that might make us
look ridiculous; because in this case effect follows very quickly on
cause.

* * * * *

The pain of an unfulfilled wish is small in comparison with that of
repentance; for the one stands in the presence of the vast open future,
whilst the other has the irrevocable past closed behind it.

* * * * *

_Geduld, patientia_, patience, especially the Spanish _sufrimiento_, is
strongly connected with the notion of _suffering_. It is therefore a
passive state, just as the opposite is an active state of the mind, with
which, when great, patience is incompatible. It is the innate virtue of
a phlegmatic, indolent, and spiritless people, as also of women. But
that it is nevertheless so very useful and necessary is a sign that the
world is very badly constituted.

* * * * *

Money is human happiness in the abstract: he, then, who is no longer
capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete, devotes his heart
entirely to money.

* * * * *