Ludwig Tieck

“ And if in the end they no longer know which way to turn, old Christoph is kind enough to provide advice, or to hike for miles just to spare the dear horses and not annoy the fancy coachman; because, believe you me, Sir, out of a thousand gentlemen scarcely half know how to manage their servants: even the best domestic servant slips out of harness if he is not instructed in a sensible manner: and bit by bit he loses his talents and also his good qualities. Granted a man cannot but achieve whatever he wants if he has but the motivation ”

“ I don't know if he's right, but he ought to begin with himself; because he has ruined all the servants in the castle through his absentmindedness, and later, when he has caused mistakes, by uncalled-for severity; bit by bit he makes them all deceitful; several have already become scoundrels, and they are even infecting the others now. For, as I said, without proper order, strictness and punctuality, there can be absolutely no common sense in the world.
— You have always been too strict and moral, you old fogy, Kronenberg replied from under his coat.
— Why old fogy? continued Christoph. ”

“ I am only acquainted with the world, the old man grumbled on, as far as the end of my nose. I don't understand it. How can a man not know the people he deals with every day? I know my masters and everything related to their house. ”

“ And this thing, precisely because it is so ordinary, is too insignificant to all these modern excessively prudent gentlemen, — they do not even notice it, there is not a pennyworth of praise in it; and so it is disappearing completely from the world, and for this very reason there will soon be as few servants as there are gentlemen on the Earth; there will just be one enormous muddle, a shouting match, a racket behind which lies nothing, — and then in the end they will still say, the common man is no good. ”

“ When they had dusted themselves down and climbed back into the carriage, glad that the accident had had no worse consequences, the young man was obliged to indulge the old man, who proceeded to compensate himself for his suffering by prattling away. ”