Fasnacht was once more proof //how little purely intellectual power avail to make a big man.
* AVAIL ; to be of use or advantage : serve
I thought that he had not lived a single one of his theories:
he had worked them /with his brain but not with his blood.
I think () I rather surprised him /by remarking that he was a remarkable guest,
for he had made me talk more solemn nonsense //that I had done for two years.
When he went I walked /with him to the corner of the road.
I said () I believed [the things () I had said] but he had been playing with counters.
He admitted () he could only clinch his view /by committing suicide.
He then left me.
I forgot [to mention that he referred to everything () he liked – including Idealistic Nihilism – as ‘very sweet].’
Faugh!
He also professed [to find my view of a Reality with no margins /intolerable, expiating on the pressure]:
I said () I loved it.
From All My Road Before Me