Friday, December 11:
In the morning errands with Fidi, who believes he saw the Christkind.
Great concern on account of my two elder daughters, particularly Lusch.
Dismal acknowledgment of the powerlessness of education in the face of character.
We talk a lot about Bismarck’s manner; at a grand soirée which he gave he went to the length of placing the pistol used by Kullmann on the table.
Such lack of dignity on the part of this revered and acclaimed man we find truly painful—how much use his spiteful enemies can make of it!
In the evening Schopenhauer, with ever-increasing admiration for his magnificent fairness: pitilessly as he recognizes every weakness, he also feels and acknowledges every act of merit or significance, in a way that exalts the heart.