Marx-Engels Correspondence 1869

Marx to Engels

Abstract

Source: Marx Engels On Literature and Art, Progress Publishers, 1976;
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden;
Written in German and French;

June 26, 1869

When rearranging my bookshelves, I came across a small old edition of La Rochefoucauld’s Réflexions etc. Leafing through it I found this:

“Sobriety is a mystery of the body, invented to hide the defects of the spirit.”

Thus Stern pinched it from La Rochefoucauld!

Very nice, too:

“We are all strong enough to suffer the misfortunes of others.”

“The old like to give good precepts as a consolation for no longer being able to give bad examples.”

“Kings mint people like coins; they give them any value they wish; and one is forced to accept them according to their rate of exchange, and not according to their true price.”

“When vices abandon us, we flatter ourselves with the belief that it is we who have abandoned them.”

“Moderation is languor and indolence of the soul, just as ambition is its activity and ardour.”

“He often pardon those who bore us, but we can never pardon those whom we bore.”

“The reason that lovers never tire of each other’s company, is that they always talk about themselves.”