B1075 <=> B1077 [BTG XLIII Beelzebub’s opinion of war, p. 1076]

“It has already become customary there at the present time that all your favorites always teach others like themselves even things the notion of which they have not even dreamed of, and the joke of it is that if these others do not learn from him, or at least, do not pretend that they wish to learn, then they are not only offended, but even always inwardly very sincerely indignant; and on the contrary, if one of these others should learn ‘sense’ from them or at least pretend that he is very anxious to learn it, then these beings will not only ‘love’ and ‘respect’ him but will feel fully satisfied and greatly delighted.

“It must be remarked here that only in these circumstances can your favorites speak about others without malice and without criticism.

“And so, my boy . . .

“I strongly advise you that if for any reason you have to exist among them, always pretend that you wish to learn something from them. Act in the same way towards their children and then you will not only be on excellent terms with them all, but the whole family will even look on you as the honored friend of the house.

“Always remember that any one of them, however insignificant he himself may be in essence, looks down, owing always to his self-conceit ensuing from this particular property, with contempt upon the conduct and actions of others, especially if their conduct and actions sharply contradict his own subjectively established point of view, and in these cases he, as I have already said, usually becomes inwardly sincerely offended and indignant.