Note 51 — FRAGMENTS (1867 TO 1868)
Constance Garnett translation
Did not the kept genius of the Prussian King do the same? His double personality drew down a biting sarcasm. After 1848 the Hanoverian King, an ultra-conservative and feudalist, arrived in Potsdam. On the palace staircase he met various courtiers, and among them Humboldt in a livery dress-coat. The malicious king stopped and said to him, smiling: ‘Immer derselbe, immer Republikaner und immer im Vorzimmer des Palastes.’—(Author’s Note.)