Chapter IV

Woman is the opposite of the dandy. Thus she must inspire horror. Woman is hungry, and she wants to eat, thirsty, and she wants to drink. She is proud, and she, wants to be....

True merit!

Woman is _natural_, that is to say, abominable.

Also, she is always vulgar, that is, the opposite of the dandy.

_In regard to the Legion of Honor_. He who seeks the cross seems to say: "If I am not decorated for having done my duty, I shall not go ahead."

If a man has merit, what is the good in decorating him? If he has not, then he can be decorated, since that will give him a lustre.

To consent to be decorated, is to recognize that the state has the right to judge you, to adorn you, et cetera.

Furthermore, if not pride, Christian humility should defend the cross.

_Calculation in favor of God._ Nothing exists without an end. Hence my existence has an end. What end? I do not know. Hence it is not I that have marked it. Hence it is some one wiser than I. Hence I must pray to some one to enlighten me. That is the wisest part.

The dandy ought to aspire uninterruptedly to be sublime. He should live and sleep before a mirror.