273. “Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can not cook a clean soup.”
(To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an
otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to spare his
feelings.)
274. “Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades many to follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less seductive to mankind, especially if at another place there are persons who call them to a gently declining road.”
(Diary, 1815.)
275. “Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and will always remain bestial.”
(Diary, 1812-18.)
276. “Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the distant and the dead live with us.”
(To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the
country he sent Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister” and Schlegel’s translation of
Shakespeare.)
277. “There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, which may be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to hide.”
(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)