Apropos of the actor and of my childish dreams, a chapter on what constitutes, in the human soul, the calling of the actor, the glory of the actor, the art of the actor and his situation in the world.
The theory of Legouvé. Is Legouvé a cold farceur, a Swift, who tried whether France would swallow a new absurdity? His choice. Good, in the sense that Samson is not an actor.
Of the true greatness of pariahs. Perhaps even, virtue harms the talents of pariahs.
LXII
Commerce is, in its essence, satanic. Commerce, is the loan returned, it is the loan with an understanding: Return more than I gave you.
—The spirit of everything commercial is completely depraved.
—Commerce is natural, hence it is infamous.
—The least infamous of tradesmen is he who says: "Let us be virtuous that we may gain much more money than the fools who are vicious." For the tradesman, honesty itself is a speculation. Commerce is Satanic, because it is one of the forms of egoism, the lowest, and the most vile.