Ludwig Tieck

“ His solitude, however, did not last long, and when the pedestrians returned their numbers were greater than in the forenoon; the ladies were even better dressed and looked anxiously at the sky, wondering whether the lowering autumn clouds would draw closer and spoil their fine attire with a downpour. But the Sun broke forth again with renewed heat, and the faces of the promenaders grew happy and cheerful.
A gaunt man joined the melancholy Siegmund by chance; he was a local journalist, who would gladly hunt anywhere for a story. ”

“ While he was in this mood, Siegmund resolved to write an epic apology for wine and drunkenness, to prove how intoxication warms the heart and elevates it, how a man's unsuspected mental abilities steal forth from their hiding-places and transform his brain into a multicoloured dance floor for the finest and most beautiful of thoughts. ”

“ If we tolerate a man's weaknesses, it is no more than an obligatory act of human kindness; but if this forbearance brings with it the added benefit of enabling us to acquire some advantage or other, then we would be big fools if we did not cling to this handrail that guides us along a steep path. Who would not want to go downhill slowly and get out of the way of a rolling stone?
The friend of the President became the friend of Siegmund. He affirmed everything that the latter said, and slowly cast a very ponderous glance around the room, before allowing it to rest on the bested scholar. ”

“ Men walked by, engaged in loud disputation — not a single pedestrian who would have refreshed his eyes with the beauties of nature, any more than Siegmund, who was too busy debating with himself about his future. ”

“ By philosophizing thus, Siegmund more or less recovered his cheerfulness. As honest folk passed by, he silently resumed his ruminations, and became increasingly convinced that human beings are fools.
Siegmund now enjoyed his walk in a rather buoyant mood; in his heart he made fun of everyone he saw; no countenance or splendid attire embarrassed him.
Towards evening he returned to his hotel; he was satisfied that the landlord was just as polite to him as before, if indeed not more polite, because he assumed that Siegmund had been dining with the President. ”

“ The warm, joyous air, the bright sunshine and the blue sky are transported, embodied as it were in the wine barrels, to our northern climes; through the enjoyment of wine, a man becomes for several hours an inhabitant of those beautiful countries to the south, and it is only with great reluctance that he returns to his native land with its cold climate after the heady vapours have evaporated. ”

“ I have found that there is no trade that does not involve some sort of swindle, and that such graft is justified to some extent by the stupidity that allows itself to be swindled. — You smile at my confessions, but you know in your heart that I am right.
— I am entirely of your opinion, my fair friend, replied Siegmund, who was just thinking how only yesterday he had defended the sycophant.
— Everyone, continued the other, seeks to make use of the miseries of his fellow-man in order to make smooth his own path through life; one man dresses to please his patron ”

“ We are never all sincerity, even to our closest friends; we declare to them many a thing of which we are not convinced; in our most intimate moments we maintain a certain way of life; we tolerate their weaknesses so as not to antagonize them, and they in their turn overlook other weaknesses in us. Hanc veniam damus petimusque vicissim. [2]
— Beautiful, proclaimed the man who had written the treatise. Too bad that you are a sophist, and you quote a saying of honest Horace in lieu of sophistries.
— Do we behave any differently throughout our lives? continued Siegmund. ”

“ Should one always contradict him in defiance of politeness, friendship, and even one's own convictions, merely to demonstrate to the world that one can exist independently of him? Only the egoist can discover self-interest in all actions. ”

“ If I have a friend who has rendered me many favours over a long period of time, and I finally have an opportunity to do something for him in return, should I refrain from doing it and instead bestow this benefit on someone who is a stranger to me? ”

“ Siegmund tried to impress him as on the preceding day, but to no avail; the little man now understood the relationship in which they stood and was almost as discourteous as the President himself. He bade him a cold farewell and then returned haughtily to the door.
On the street Siegmund looked around several times and drew a breath of fresh air; he examined the passers-by minutely in order to obliterate the memory of the President's countenance ”

“ Siegmund asked, laughing.
— Fortunately my hotel is the only really good one in this city, the fat man continued without being put out. So the sum I am hoping for is already as good as in my pocket. The goldsmith is a fool who does not also seek to profit from inferior silver.
The bill was settled, and Siegmund moved out into his new lodgings.
When he returned to the hotel at midday to dine, the little Bellmann leapt into his arms and was delighted that so worthy a man had obtained the vacant position. ”

“ When a man is greatly embarrassed, he usually walks very quickly; he wants to hurry past all unpleasant thoughts towards a moment of peace and contentment, a moment which maliciously advances one step ahead of him with every step he takes. Siegmund bumped into some porters, who cursed him roundly ”

“ Siegmund was made a councillor, and as soon as he left the President's he immediately engaged new lodgings, asked for his bill in the hotel, and though he was not horrified at the large total, he was still a little surprised at it.
Everyone here in the city seemed to ply his trade philosophically, for when the landlord saw the payer's long-drawn face, he said quite coldly:
— One cannot hold it against people like us if we take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself to us ”

“ If people are foolish enough to sacrifice their wealth for a girl they consider beautiful, why should she not take advantage of this folly, just as mountebanks, doctors, acrobats and writers take advantage of human foibles? ”

“ Siegmund was inconsolable when now the little Bellmann [6] walked through the hallway and the President very kindly invited him to step into his room, where he would presently join him. It occurred to Siegmund how poignant it was that he had played the little man's champion the previous day, and today this same individual was behaving so familiarly with a person before whom Siegmund trembled. The President now pointedly sought to curtail the visit, just as Siegmund was trying to prolong it without really knowing why. ”

“ You only have to look around at the occupations of your fellow men and examine the industry of all their activity; you will soon discover that nothing but self-interest sets all this machinery in motion ”

“ One always makes the most favourable impression on people when one appears to be very humble and does not seek to recommend oneself at all; one need only allow the other person to speak himself, and he will discover that one can talk very sensibly. ”

“ I am not the first, and I shall not be the last, to receive a position through a woman; they give us milk when we are babies and bread when we are grown men, and it is usually more shocking how many are provided for by a married woman or by marriage. ”

“ It was just around the time when Dumouriez had defected, [1] and this incident exercised the wits and imaginations of everyone: some people shouted and strove to either defend or condemn him; some drank his health, while in another part of the room he was cursed; a gambler reviled him and spoke enthusiastically of the noble duties of patriotism; a scholar, who had recently published a treatise on Roman metres, demonstrated that Dumouriez had undertaken the whole campaign without the necessary tactical knowledge ”

“ After the usual forms of introductory address — Sorry, hope to be of service to you another time — those mourning coaches which so often accompany our hopes to the grave, there finally emerged the negative response which the poor aspirant had been anxiously anticipating for some time like an approaching tempest. ”

“ A horse trotted close by them, and then made several of those crazy manoeuvres that the animals are taught with great difficulty in riding schools, namely to fall down should the necessity arise in order not to endanger unskilful horsemen. ”

“ It seems that Bellmann is his surname, though it was not mentioned earlier.↑ The German word Rat means both counsel and councillor.↑ Ovid, Tristia 3:5:49-50: "I am punished because my unknowing eyes saw an offence, my sin is that of possessing sight." ”

“ Justum et tenacem etc., "The just and resolute man will not be moved from his settled purpose either by the misdirected rage of his fellow citizen or by the threats of an imperious tyrant." This is a quotation from Horace's Odes (Carmina, Book 3, Ode 3, Stanza 1) .↑ Latin: The cobbler should stick to his last. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History 35.36.85-86, records that a shoemaker (sutor) had approached the painter Apelles of Kos to point out a defect in the artist's rendition of a sandal (crepida from the Greek krepis) , which Apelles duly corrected. ”