With suppressed truths, with fool’s hand and befooled heart, and rich in petty lies of pity:⁠—thus have I ever lived among men.

Disguised did I sit amongst them, ready to misjudge myself that I might endure them , and willingly saying to myself: “Thou fool, thou dost not know men!”

One unlearneth men when one liveth amongst them: there is too much foreground in all men⁠—what can farseeing, far-longing eyes do there !

And, fool that I was, when they misjudged me, I indulged them on that account more than myself, being habitually hard on myself, and often even taking revenge on myself for the indulgence.