history ... a sort of immortality turned upside down. Her life stretched backwards through ten centuries.
... love always betrays its intentions.
marriage was a calamity, but it was not an occupation.
there are no nationalities in heaven.
Children never grow tired; their likes and dislikes are constant; let them laugh at something once and they laugh always; do what you will, they are sure to say, 'Do it again!
The arts are good and providential in that they allow the soul to imitate the movements of love, and to feel love without its being returned - which, perhaps, is the only way of feeling it permanently.