The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

If we examine the inmost nature of this justice, there already lies in it the resolution not to go so far in the assertion of one’s own will as to deny the manifestations of will of others, by compelling them to serve one’s own. One will therefore wish to render to others as much as one receives from them. The highest degree of this justice of disposition, which is,

~ goodness ~pr^ei7^ whose negati^, extends so far that a man doubts his right to inherited property, wishes Id 8U^ort~~Eis body only by his own powers, mental and physical, feels every service of others and every luxury a r^roach, and finally embl^eF >roTuhtaH'pb^rt^ Thus we see how Pascal, when he became an ascetic, wou13~lQd longer pemit any services to be rendered him, although be had servants enoughj in spite of his constant bad health he made Ed^ed himself, brought his own food from the kitclienr^crt^ Vie de Pascal, par sa Sceur,” p. 19). Quite in keeping with this, it is reported that many HinduSj, e^en Rajas with great wealthi it ffiglgly"

on the maintenance of their position, their court and attendants, and themselves observe with the greatest scrupulousness th^e maxim that a man should eat nothing t^t he, haa.n,o^-MjQaself..bQtk.5nwed,and^,i^^ Yet a certain misunderstanding lies at the bottom of this ; for one man, just because he is rich and powerful, can render such signal services to the whole of human society that they counterbalance the wealth he has inherited, for the secure possession of which he is indebted to society. In reality that excessive justice of such Hindus is al'.eady more than justice ; it is actual renunciation, denial of the will to live, — asceticism, of which we shall speak last On the other hand, pure idleness and living through the exertions oTothers, in the case of inherited wealth, without accomplishing aoythiog>.](Sa73e-J.e2&Jdgd..aa.inor^y however, always united with character is no longer^mereTy

p. 480

THE WORLD -4S WILL.

BK. IV.

We have found that voluntary justice has its inmost source in a certain degree of penetration of the principium individuationis, while the unjust remain entirely involved in this principle. This penetration may exist not only in the degree which is required for justice, but also in the higher degree which leads to benevolence and welldoing, to love of mankind.

And this may take place however strong and energetic in itself the will which appears in such an individual may be. Knowledge can always counterbalance it in him, teach him to resist the tendency to wrong, and even produce lh''~lnni e^¥y degree o^^od^s^and indeed of feSgiiation.

Thus the good man is by no mea,ns to be regarded as originally a weaker manifestation of will than the bad man, but it is knowledge which in him masters the blind strivm^oi will.

There are certainly individuals who merely* seem coTiave a good disposition on account of the weakness of the will appearing in them, but what they are soon appears from the fact that they are not capable of any remarkable self-conquest in order to perform a just or good deed.