Schopenhauer

This is from Herzberg too, on Schopenhauer:

“He fled from smallpox at Naples and cholera at Berlin. He always had daggers and loaded pistols at his bedside. He concealed his valuables in the most unlikely places, he made his business notes in English, or if they were particularly important, in Latin or Greek. He was perpetually afraid of being exploited, cheated, or robbed.”

The fleeing from smallpox and cholera part actually sounds reasonable. The rest of the pages make Schopenhauer sound like a more erudite version of Dick Tracy and Phil Spector rolled into one.