‘If on the other hand we just keep working straight ahead, with all our weakness and strain, we very often find that we get further with our tacking and tardiness than others with their sailing and rowing — and surely one has a true feeling of one’s worth when one keeps pace with others or even outruns them.’
– pp 63-4
‘_8th January 1772_
What sort of people are they whose whole soul is wrapped up in ceremony, whose entire striving and contriving is devoted to the goal of moving their chair one place nearer the head of the table?…
How foolish not to see that the place you occupy really makes no difference, and that the one who occupies the first place so seldom plays the first role! How many kings are ruled by their ministers, how many ministers by their secretaries! And ten who is first? It is he, I think, who surveys the rest, and who has so much power or cunning as to harness their abilities and passions to the execution of his plans.’
– p 67
‘_16th June_
True, I am but a wanderer, a rover on earth! Are you more than that?’
