Page:The reflections of Lichtenberg.djvu/37

 the undertaking of the Stoics; it is only another degree of the impossible. I suppose there never was a man of any great mark who was not slandered; or hardly any blackguard who never directed a slander against some man of merit. We judge nothing so hastily as character, and yet there is nothing over which we should be more cautious. In no other case are we so little inclined as here to wait until we have all the facts, and it is the whole which really constitutes character. I have always found that the so-called bad people improve on closer acquaintance, while the good fall off. Whoever cares to give himself a little trouble will soon notice that there is a certain science of human nature, a philosophy and a theory of life, passing current, which without any further test yet serves many as a guide both in what they say and do. There are even celebrated people who have nothing better to show. In medium-sized towns, for instance, people invariably take the professor for a pedant; and even university education will be connected there with stiffness. The country bumpkin is another well-known character, and yet the majority of country lads are not in the least like it. Blockheads are commonly very much at home in this philosophy. Words ought occasionally to be revised ; for the world may move on and words be left behind. Let it always be