268. “What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and immortality?”
(Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.)
269. “Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my undeserved fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new misfortune on that account.”
(July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. “Every day there come new inquiries
from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.”)
270. “The world must give one recognition,—it is not always unjust. I care nothing for it because I have a higher goal.”
(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)
271. “I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own sakes and for others we are obliged to turn our attention sometimes to lower things; this, too, is a part of human destiny.”
(February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale of a
copy of the Mass in D.)
272. “Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than the other animals if his chief delights are those of the table.”
(Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the “Harmonicon” of 1824. He dined with
Beethoven in Baden.)