About a sick man. – ‘He is doing badly!’ – ‘What’s wrong?’ – ‘He is suffering from the desire to be praised and finds no nourishment for it.’ ‘Unbelievable! The whole world is celebrating him, and pampering him; he is on everyone’s lips.’ – ‘Yes, but he has a bad ear for praise. If a friend praises him, it sounds to him as if the friend is praising himself. If an enemy praises him, it sounds to him as if the enemy wants be praised for that. And when finally he is praised by any of the rest – and they are not many at all; that is how famous he is! – it offends him that they don’t want him as a friend or enemy; he likes to say: What do I care about people who are capable of trying to play “the just man” even towards me?’