Vice, like virtue, Grows in small steps, and no true innocence Can ever fall at once to deepest guilt.
This innocence begins to weigh me down.
To save our imperiled honor everything must be sacrificed, even virtue.
On the throne, one has many worries; and remorse is the one that weighs the least.
It's no longer a warmth hidden in my veins: it's Venus entire and whole fastening on her prey.
Small crimes always precede great crimes. Whoever has been able to transgress the limits set by law may afterwards violate the most sacred rights; crime, like virtue, has its degrees, and never have we seen timid innocence pass suddenly to extreme licentiousness.