XXI
Squibs. Suggestions. To give oneself to Satan. What
does this mean?
What can be more absurd than Progress, since
man, as the event of each day proves, is for ever the
double and equal of man—is for ever, that is to say,
in the state of primitive nature! What perils have the
forest and the prairie to compare with the daily
shocks and conflicts of civilization? Whether man
ensnares his dupe upon the boulevard or pierces his
victim within the trackless forests, is he not everlasting
man, the most perfect of the beasts of prey?
People tell me that I am thirty, but if I have lived
three minutes in one . . . am I not ninety years old?
Is not work the salt which preserves mummified
souls?
At the beginning of a story attack the subject, no
matter where, and open with some very beautiful
phrases which will arouse the desire to complete it.
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