(Conversation-book, 1825.)
267. “Nothing is more intolerable than to be compelled to accuse one’s
self of one’s own errors.”
(Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven regrets that through
his own fault he had not made Tiedge’s acquaintance on an earlier
opportunity.)
268. “What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and
immortality?”
(Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.)
269. “Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my
undeserved fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new misfortune
on that account.”
(July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. “Every day there come new inquiries
from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.”)
270. “The world must give one recognition,--it is not always unjust. I
care nothing for it because I have a higher goal.”
(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)
271. “I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own sakes
and for others we are obliged to turn our attention sometimes to lower
things; this, too, is a part of human destiny.”
(February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale of a
copy of the Mass in D.)
272. “Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than the
other animals if his chief delights are those of the table.”
(Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the “Harmonicon” of 1824. He dined with
Beethoven in Baden.)
273. “Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can
not cook a clean soup.”
(To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an
otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to spare his
feelings.)
274. “Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades
many to follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less seductive to
mankind, especially if at another place there are persons who call them
to a gently declining road.”
(Diary, 1815.)
275. “Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and will
always remain bestial.”
(Diary, 1812-18.)
276. “Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the
distant and the dead live with us.”
(To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the
country he sent Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister” and Schlegel’s translation of
Shakespeare.)
277. “There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, which
may be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to hide.”
(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)
278. “The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness of
human souls and hearts.”
(Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel with Breuning.)