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The genius of freedom in some and the genius of emulation in others.
April 9.
If they all know one another, democracy. If they are mixed, aristocracy. If they are diverse, Royalty.
April 14.
Bundles of hay, sheaves, and bundles of vine shoots: Are the cushions of rustic life.
April 18.
Voltaire. Among the intelligent species (or rather) in the intellectual world, he is the ape. His letters: there above all one sees the ape’s capers in all their lightness. There he mimics the poet and the historian wonderfully. He gives still more pleasure in The Maid. There he mimics the simple fellow.
“The peace of prisons” is their compensation.
April 21.
Illusion is in sensations. Error is in judgments. One can know the truth and enjoy illusion at the same time.
Like that candle—an Empedocles of wax—that throws itself into Etna.
He opens his eyes and holds his gaze still, to let the object sink in.
None of these kinds of books teaches one to know the subjects it treats, but they teach one to speak of them.
One must not show the cord, one must not show the nerve.
April 24.
There are traveling minds that like to roam through books and bring back the memory of everything they have read. These should, like Bayle, compile dictionaries, collections, etc.
One likes to say what he knows, the other to say what he thinks.