349
Not so very important.—At any deathbed at which are standing there always arises in us a certain thought which we promptly suppress from a false sense of propriety: the thought that the act of dying is not so significant as general reverence maintains and that the dying person has probably lost in life things more important than he is about to lose in the hour of death. The end, in this case, is certainly not the goal.
350
The safest way to promise.—When a promise is made, it is not the word which is binding, but that which is implied in the word. Forsooth, words render a promise invalid, by discharging and wasting a power which is part of that power which makes the promise. Therefore proffer your land but place your finger on your lips—thus you will make the safest promises.
351
Misunderstood as a rule.—In conversation we sometimes notice people endeavouring to set a trap wherein to catch others—not from any base motive, as one might think, but from sheer delight in their own shrewdness: some again prepare a joke and leave it to others to utter it, they tie the loop for the other to pull out the knot: not from goodwill, as one might be induced
