as ever worthy
gentleman so used!--I tell thee, Blockhead, it all comes of thy
Vanity; of what thou _fanciest_ those same deserts of thine to be.
Fancy that thou deservest to be hanged (as is most likely), thou wilt
feel it happiness to be only shot: fancy that thou deservest to be
hanged in a hair-halter, it will be a luxury to die in hemp.

'So true is it, what I then say, that _the Fraction of Life can be
increased in value not so much by increasing your Numerator as by
lessening your Denominator_. Nay, unless my Algebra deceive me,
_Unity_ itself divided by _Zero_ will give _Infinity_. Make thy claim
of wages a zero, then; thou hast the world under thy feet. Well did
the Wisest of our time write: "It is only with Renunciation
(_Entsagen_) that Life, properly speaking, can be said to begin."

'I asked myself: What is this that, ever since earliest years, thou
hast been fretting and fuming, and lamenting and self-tormenting, on
account of? Say it in a word: is it not because thou art not HAPPY?
Because the THOU (sweet gentleman) is not sufficiently honoured,
nourished, soft-bedded, and lovingly cared for? Foolish soul! What Act
of Legislature was there that _thou_ shouldst be Happy? A little while
ago thou hadst no right to _be_ at all. What if thou wert born and
predestined not to be Happy, but to be Unhappy! Art thou nothing other
than a Vulture, then, that fliest through the Universe seeking after
somewhat to _eat_; and shrieking dolefully because carrion enough is
not given thee? Close thy _Byron_; open thy _Goethe_.'

'_Es leuchtet mir ein_, I see a glimpse of it!' cries he elsewhere:
'there is in man a HIGHER than Love of Happiness: he can do without
Happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness! Was it not to
preach-forth this same HIGHER that sages and martyrs, the Poet and the
Priest, in all times, have spoken and suffered; bearing testimony,
through life and through death, of the Godlike that is in Man, and how
in the Godlike only has he Strength and Freedom? Which God-inspired
Doctrine art thou also honoured to be taught; O Heavens! and broken
with manifold merciful Afflictions, even till thou become contrite,
and learn it! O, thank thy Destiny for these; thankfully bear what yet
remain: thou hadst need of them; the Self in thee needed to be
annihilated. By benignant fever-paroxysms is Life rooting out the
deep-seated chronic Disease, and triumphs over Death. On the roaring
billows of Time, thou art no