Page:Novalis Schriften - Volume 2.djvu/153

★ 143 ★

135. The Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung is for the person, who out of attachment for the good things of this life, seeks to sustain this life as long as possible. Hufeland's Microbiotics has already been brought into practice by the dispatchers of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung. In the beginning, it debuted new ideas. It always had a poor constitution. The long use of Kantian terms has done it much harm. Now it has become much more cautious and looks for only that food appropriate for times of fasting, seldom used intoxicating agents and conveniences to accommodate the weather, according to Hufeland's acclaimed principle of mediocrity, prolonging the golden dream of earthly existence as long as possible.

136. Whoever wants to take fragments of this kind at their word, he may be an upright person— but he should not take himself for a poet. Must one always be thoughtful? One who is too old for passionate enthusiasms, misses out on youthful socializing. There, one finds literary Saturnalias. The more colorful the life, the better.

137. Where the majority decides, power rules over form; it's the opposite where the minority have the upper hand. Theoretical politicians can not be accused of being bold. It has never occured to any of them that monarchy and democracy could and should be utterly united as elements of a truly universal state.

A true democracy is an absolute minus-state [sic]. A true monarchy is an absolute plus-state [sic]. The constitution of a monarchy is the character of the regent. Its guarantee is his will. Democracy, in the ordinary