. Before and during action he
has every reason for keeping his understanding mobile, that he may not
afterwards have to grieve over a false choice. Yet when he grows old he
will always confess himself a mystic: he sees that so much seems to
depend on chance; that folly succeeds and wisdom fails; that good and
evil fortune are brought unexpectedly to the same level; so it is and so
it has been, and old age acquiesces in that which is and was and will
be.

391

When a man grows old he must consciously remain at a certain stage.

392

It does not become an old man to run after the fashion, either in
thought or in dress. But he must know where he is, and what the others
are aiming at.

What is called fashion is the tradition of the moment. All tradition
carries with it a certain necessity for people to put themselves on a
level with it.

393

We have long been busy with the critique of reason. I should like to see
a critique of common-sense. It would be a real benefit to mankind if we
could convincingly prove to the ordinary intelligence how far it can go;
and that is just as much as it fully requires for life on this earth.

394

The thinker makes a great mistake when he asks after cause and effect:
they both together make up the indivisible phenomenon.

395

All practical men try to bring the world under their hands; all
thinkers, under their heads. How far each succeeds, they may both see
for themselves.

396

Shall we say that a man thinks only when he cannot think out that of
which he is thinking?

397

What is invention or discovery? It is the conclusion of what we were
looking for.

398

It is with history as with nature and with everything of any depth, it
may be past, present, or future: the further we seriously pursue it, the
more difficult are the problems that appear. The man who is not afraid
of them, but attacks them bravely, has a feeling of higher culture and
greater ease the further he progresses.

399

Every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined
plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be
steep and inaccessible.

400

If a man would enter upon some course of knowledge, he must either be
deceived or deceive himself, unless external necessity irresistibly
determines him. Who would become a physician if, at one and the same
time, he saw before him all the horrible sights that await him?

401

How many years must a man do