Section 8. WHAT IS CAPITAL?
Reading edition
What is capital? Is[1] it what a man has? Is[2] it counted (App. § 31) by[3] pounds and pence, stocks[4] and shares[5], by houses and lands[6]? No! Capital[7] is not what a man has, but what a man is. Character[8] is[9] capital; honour[10] is capital.—Rev. Dr. Macduff.
We laughed at that which (or at what) you told us. Wir lachten über das, was Sie uns erzählten.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · ‘Is — has?’ say ‘Does it consist in that which (see S. 3, N. 7) we possess?’ The prep. ‘in’ here governs the dat. Read again S. 4, N. 5, B, Note 2 · See S. 2, N. 1; ‘to count’, here schätzen.Note 3 · by = nach.Note 4 · Wertpapiere.Note 5 · Aktien.Note 6 · Ländereien.Note 7 · ‘Capital — is’. The literal translation of this sentence would read very awkwardly in German, say ‘Our capital does not consist in that whicNote 8 · Character = A good reputation.Note 9 · ‘is’, here ist.Note 10 · Ehrenhaftigkeit, f.