Part 16

Precious Notes.--Do every day what prudence and duty dictate. If you work every day, life will be more endurable. Work six days without a let-up. To find fields, Know thyself. Always to be a poet, even in prose. Grand style (nothing is more beautiful than the commonplace). First begin, then make use of logic and analysis. Any hypothesis whatsoever tends to its conclusion. Find the daily frenzy.

LXXVII

_Hygiene, Conduct, Morals._--Debts. Friends (my mother, friends, myself). Thus, 1000 francs should be divided into two parts of 500 francs each, and the second divided into three.

LXXVIII

--To do one's duty every day and trust in God for the morrow.

The one way to make money is to work in a disinterested fashion.

--Concentrated wisdom. Toilet, prayer, labor.

Prayer: charity, wisdom and strength.

Without charity, I am but a clashing cymbal.

--My humiliations have been mercies of God.

Is my egoistical phase at an end?

The gift of responding to the moment's need, exactitude, in a word, should infallibly bring its recompense.

LXXIX

_Hygiene, Conduct, Morals._--Jean 300, my mother 200, myself 300,--800 francs a month. To work from six in the morning, on an empty stomach, till noon. To work blindly, aimlessly, like a madman. We shall see the result.

I suppose I base my destiny on a few hours' uninterrupted toil.

All is reparable. There is still time. Who knows even if new pleasure...?

I have not yet known the pleasure of a project carried out.

Power of the fixed idea, power of hope.

The habit of doing one's duty drives out fear.

One must wish to dream and know how to dream. The summoning of inspiration. The Art of Magic. To set myself immediately to writing. I reason too much.

Immediate work, even poor, is worth more than dreams.

A procession of little wishes makes a mighty end.

Every recoil of the will is a particle of lost substance. How prodigal, then, is hesitation! And judge of the greatness of the final effort needed to repair so many losses!

The man who prays in the evening, is a captain who posts his sentinels. He can sleep.

Dreams of death and warnings.

Up to now I have enjoyed my memories alone; they must be shared with another. Make a passion of the joys of the heart.

Because I comprehend a glorious existence, I believe myself capable of realizing it. O Jean-Jacques!

Work forcibly engenders good habits, sobriety and chastity, consequently health, wealth, successive and progressive genius, and charity. Age quod agis.

Fish, cold baths, showers, lichen, lozenges, occasionally; in addition, suppression of everything exciting.

Island Lichen 125 grams White sugar 250 "

Steep the lichen, for twelve or fifteen hours, in a sufficient quantity of cold water, then drain the water. Boil the lichen in two liters of water, on a slow and continuous flame, until the two liters have dwindled to one, remove the scum once; then add the 250 grams of sugar and allow it to thicken to the consistency of syrup. Allow it to cool again. Take a large tablespoonful three times daily, morning, noon, and night. Do not be afraid to increase the dose, if the crises become too frequent.

LXXX

_Hygiene, Conduct, Method._--I swear to myself henceforth to take the following rules as eternal rules of my life:

Every morning to pray to God, _reservoir of all strength and all justice, to my father, to Mariette, and to Poe,_ as intercessors; to pray to them to grant me the necessary strength always to do my duty, and to grant to my mother _a life long enough_ to enjoy my transformation; to work all day, or at least _while my strength remains_; to trust in God, that is, in Justice itself, for the success of my projects; to make, every evening, a new prayer to God, asking life and strength for my mother and for myself; to divide all I earn into four parts,--one for current expenses, one for my creditors, one for my friends and one for my mother;--to obey the precepts of strictest sobriety, of which the first is the suppression of everything exciting, whatever it may be.