course where at the goal there stands the palm of
victory! Lend sublimity to my loftiest thoughts, bring to them truths
that shall live forever!"

(Diary, 1814, while working on "Fidelio.")

254. "Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man
has no nobler or more valuable possession than time; therefore never put
off till tomorrow what you can do today."

(From the notes in Archduke Rudolph's instruction book.)

255. "This is the mark of distinction of a truly admirable man:
steadfastness in times of trouble."

(Diary, 1816.)

256. "Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things."

(April, 1815, to Countess Erdody.)

257. "Force, which is a unit, will always prevail against the majority
which is divided."

(Conversation-book, 1819.)

258. "Kings and Princes can create professors and councillors, and
confer orders and decorations; but they can not create great men,
spirits that rise above the earthly rabble; these they can not create,
and therefore they are to be respected."

(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)

259. "Man, help yourself!"

(Written under the words: "Fine, with the help of God," which Moscheles
had written at the end of a pianoforte arrangement of a portion of
"Fidelio.")

260. "If I could give as definite expression to my thoughts about my
illness as to my thoughts in music, I would soon help myself."

(September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the cure in Teplitz.)

261. "Follow the advice of others only in the rarest cases."

(Diary, 1816.)

262. "The moral law in us, and the starry sky above us."--Kant.

(Conversation-book, February, 1820.)

[Literally the passage in Kant's "Critique of Practical Reason" reads as
follows: "Two things fill the soul with ever new and increasing wonder
and reverence the oftener the mind dwells upon them:--the starry sky
above me and the moral law in me."]

263. "Blessed is he who has overcome all passions and then proceeds
energetically to perform his duties under all circumstances careless of
success! Let the motive lie in the deed, not in the outcome. Be not one
of those whose spring of action is the hope of reward. Do not let
your life pass in inactivity. Be industrious, do your duty, banish all
thoughts as to the results, be they good or evil; for such equanimity is
attention to intellectual things. Seek an asylum only