The Historian Is A Prophet Looking Backward.

Nothing Is More Witty And Grotesque Than Ancient Mythology And Christianity; That Is Because They Are So Mystical.

One Mentions Many Artists Who Are Actually Art Works Of Nature.

If The Essence Of Cynicism Consists In Preferring Nature To Art, Virtue To Beauty And Science; In Not Bothering About The Letter Of Things -- To Which The Stoic Strictly Adheres -- But In Looking Up To The Spirit Of Things; In Absolute Contempt Of All Economic Values And Political Splendor, And In Courageous Defence Of The Rights Of Independent Freedom; Then Christianity Would Be Nothing But Universal Cynicism.

In England, Wit Is At Least A Profession, If Not An Art. Everything Becomes Professional There, And Even The Rogues Of That Islandare Pedants. So Are The "wits" There Too. They Introduce Into Reality Absolute Freedom Whose Reflection Lends A Romantic And Piquant Air To Wit, And Thus They Live Wittily; Hence Their Talent For Madness. They Die For Their Principles.

Nothing Is More Piquant Than When A Man Of Genius Possesses Mannerisms; Not So When They Possess Him -- This Leads To Spiritual Petrification.