3
" Nature is infinitely rich and diverse in her ways. She can be seen to break her most unchanging laws. She has made self-interest the motive of all human action, but in the great host of men she produces ones who are strangely constituted, in whom selfishness is scarcely perceptible because they do not place their affections in themselves. Some are passionate about the sciences, others about the public good. They are as attached to the discoveries of others as if they themselves had made them, or to the institutions of public welfare and the state as if they derived benefit from them. This habit of not thinking of themselves influences the whole course of their lives. They don't know how to use other men for their profit. Fortune offers them opportunities which they do not think of taking up.
In nearly all men the self is almost never inactive. You will detect their self-interest in nearly all the advice they give you, in the services they do for you, in the contacts they make, in the friendships they form. They are deeply attached to the things which affect their interests however remotely, and are indifferent to all others. When they encounter a man who is indifferent to personal interest they cannot understand him. They suspect him of hidden motives, of affectation, or of insanity. They cast him from their bosom, revile him. "
― Jan Potocki , The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
12
" При голяма част от хората грижата за аза е основополагаща: ще откриеш гласа на тяхното аз в съветите, които ще ти дадат, в услугите, които ще ти направят, във връзките, които се опитват да завържат, в приятелствата, които проявяват. Проникнати от егоизъм дори в най-незначителните проблеми от всекидневието, те са напълно равнодушни към онова, което не ги засяга. Затова, когато срещнат на пътя си човек, готов да жертва личния си интерес, те не могат да го разберат, обясняват си поведенеито му с всевъзможни задни помисли, с лицемерие или дори с безумие, изключват клетника от своята среда, обявяват го за подлец и го запокитват на пустинния африкански бряг. "
― Jan Potocki , The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
15
" One day Señorita Cimiento was writing near the window. Her ink was thick; she poured water into it and made it so thin that it was impossible to use. Moved by feelings of courtesy, my father filled a bottle with ink and sent it to her. His maid came back with thanks and a cardboard box containing twelve sticks of sealing-wax, all of different colours. On them had been impressed ornaments and devices in a most accomplished way. So my father found out how Señorita Cimiento spent her time; and her work, analogous to his, was, as it were, its complement. The quality of the manufacture of the waxes was even higher than that of his ink. Full of approbation, he folded down an envelope, wrote an address on it with his fine ink and sealed it with his new wax, which took the impression perfectly. He put the envelope on the table and did not tire of contemplating it. "
― Jan Potocki , The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
