Because God created the Natural - invented it out of His love and artistry - it demands our reverence.

In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people's, we do not accept them easily enough.

As Venus within Eros does not really aim at pleasure, so Eros does not aim at happiness. We may think he does, but when he is brought to the test it proves otherwise... For it is the very mark of Eros that when he is in us we had rather share unhappiness with the Beloved than be happy on any other terms.

I don't want him to live forever, and I know that he's not going to live forever whether I want him to or not.

It matters enormously if I alienate anyone from the truth.

A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hmán, as if pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing.

If only this toothache would go away, I could write another chapter on the problem of pain.