Accordingly, any quality of mind or character that is genuine and lasting, is originally unconscious; and it is only when unconsciously brought into play that it makes a profound impression.  If any like quality is consciously exercised, it means that it has been worked up; it becomes intentional, and therefore matter of affectation, in other words, of deception.

If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if he tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails.  This applies to the origin of those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of all genuine work.  Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold water; and every man who wants to achieve something, whether in practical life, in literature, or in art, must follow the rules without knowing them.

* * * * *

Men of very great capacity, will as a rule, find the company of very stupid people preferable to that of the common run; for the same reason that the tyrant and the mob, the grandfather and the grandchildren, are natural allies.

* * * * *

That line of Ovid’s,

  Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram,

can be applied in its true physical sense to the lower animals alone; but in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly all men as well.  All their plans and projects are merged in the desire of physical enjoyment, physical well-being.  They may, indeed, have personal interests, often embracing a very varied sphere; but still these latter receive their importance entirely from the relation in which they stand to the former.  This is not only proved by their manner of life and the things they say, but it even shows itself in the way they look, the expression of their physiognomy, their gait and gesticulations.  Everything about them cries out; in terram prona!

It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed natures—­men who really think and look about them in the world, and form exceptional specimens of humanity—­that the next lines are applicable;

  Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
  Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

* * * * *

No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity:  just as in a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain.  When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent warmth contained in it.

* * * * *

Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one really knows what he looks like?

A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own.  Here, then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, Know thyself.