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Semmering
September 12, 1926
Dear Friend
It is not a bad thing once in a while to go against one's principles and habits. Had I suppressed that bit of annoyance over your
essay in the Forum,1 as I usually do, I would not feel entitled to address you so intimately today and probably would not have been presented with your biography, which fulfills an old wish of mine. For I have often been anxious to know more personal things about you. Well aware of the narrowness and the limitations of my own being,* I have always liked to look out for richer and happier natures, and for a long time I have suspected that you have not been a beast of burden* as I was, but instead could afford to lead a many-sided and harmonious life. Although I cannot imagine being you-I just don't possess your goodness and I am far more urged than you to make decisions-I nevertheless could not help looking for similarities and was glad to find one in the first chapter. The etching of St. Hieronymus2 in his study is also a favorite of mine and has been hanging in front of me in my room for years. And perhaps some of the ideals you have realized in life have also been mine.
I also see a sign of your magnanimity in your readiness to place so much personal material at the disposal of a biographer. For this I would lack all incentive. But there is no point in continuing the comparison.
I learned with great regret that an internal complaint has compelled you to husband your energy. But I am convinced that it will not interfere with the harmony of your life. As for myself I am of course reminded every hour of the mutilation caused by the operation on my jaw, but after almost three years a relapse is not expected to occur. It looks as though I shall have to wait for another way out of this life; in any case, the heart has already declared it has had enough. I am altogether not very fond of Bernard Shaw, but his Back to Methuselah struck me as all but insipid.*
Don't be surprised if I avail myself of the opport