“And you are decided to run as a Conservative?”
“Of course.”
“I hope you won’t be sorry later.”
“Pshaw! Later one jumps into the position that suits one. On these first rungs of political life, either you have to have great luck, or you have to go like a grasshopper, first here, then there. That is the take-off, and when you are there all the ambitious mediocrities unite against you if you have any talent. Naturally, I do not intend to do anything to exhibit mine. Spanish politics are like a pond; a strong, healthy stick of wood goes to the bottom; a piece of bark or cork or a sheaf of straw stays on the surface. One has to disguise oneself as a cork.”
“And later you will go on and make yourself known.”
“Naturally. Since I find myself in the vein for making comparisons, I will say that in Spanish politics we have a case like those in the old comedies of intrigue, where the lackeys pretend to be gentlemen. When I am once among the gentlemen, I shall know how to prove that I am more a master than the people surrounding me.”
“How conceited you are.”
“The confidence one feels in oneself,” said Cæsar ironically.
“But have you really got it, or do you only pretend to have?”
“What matter whether I have it or haven’t it, if I behave as if I had it?”