Don't you remember that love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature?

Don't you remember that love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature?

Humanity is not perfect in any fashion; no more in the case of evil than in that of good. The criminal has his virtues, just as the honest man has his weaknesses.

It was there, in particular, that I confirmed the truth that love, which we cry up as the source of our pleasures, is nothing more than an excuse for them.

I can see that you're in love, but only in a very narrow sense. It's the love of someone that finds charms and qualities in a woman that she doesn't actually have, who puts her in a class apart with every one else in second place, and who stays attached to her even while he's abusing her.

When one woman strikes at the heart of another, she seldom misses, and the wound is invariably fatal.

You may conquer her love of God: you will never overcome her fear of the devil.