I think being condemned to death is the only real distinction," said Mathilde. "It is the only thing which cannot be bought.
StendhalTrue love makes the thought of death frequent, easy, without terrors; it merely becomes the standard of comparison, the price one would pay for many things.
StendhalPeople who have been made to suffer by certain things cannot be reminded of them without a horror which paralyses every other pleasure, even that to be found in reading a story.
Stendhal