human
Nor is it so true that
gpt
Death and the Sun are two things not to be looked on with a steady eye. This version is from the earliest English translation of 1698. The _Maximes_ were first published in Paris in 1665. {8}
human
Our tardy apish nation took thirty-three years in finding them out and appropriating them. This, too, is good:
gpt
If we were faultless, we would observe with less pleasure the faults of others. Indeed, to observe these with pleasure is not the least of our faults. Again,
human
We are never so happy, nor so wretched, as we suppose.
gpt
Candide of the unfortunate Cunegonde and the still more unfortunate old lady who was the daughter of a Pope?
human
You lament your fate, said the old lady;
gpt
human
What! my good woman! says Cunegonde.
gpt
Unless you have been maltreated by _two_ Bulgarians, received _two_ stabs from a knife, had _two_ of your castles burned over your head, seen _two_ fathers and _two_ mothers murdered before your eyes, and _two_ of your lovers flogged at two autos-da-fe, I don't fancy that you can have the advantage of me. Besides, I was born a baroness of seventy-two quarterings, and I have been a cook.
human
There is nobody but is ashamed of having loved when once he loves no longer ? If it be true at all, I don't think the love was much worth having or giving. If one really loves once, one can never be ashamed of it; for we never cease to love. However, this is the very high water of sentiment, you will say; but I blush no more for it than M. le Duc de Rochefoucauld for his own opinion. Perhaps I am thinking of that kind of love about which he says:
gpt
True love is like ghosts; which everybody talks about and few have seen.
human
Many be the thyrsus-bearers, few the Mystics, as the Greek proverb runs.
gpt
Many are called, few are chosen.
human
the saying is but one of those which Rochefoucauld's vanity imposed on his wit. Very witty it is not, and it is emphatically untrue.
gpt
Old men console themselves by giving good advice for being no longer able to set bad examples. Capital; but the poor old men are often good examples of the results of not taking their own good advice.
human
Many an ingrate is less to blame than his benefactor. One might add, at least I will,
gpt
Every man who looks for gratitude deserves to get none of it.
human
To say that one never flirts--is flirting. I rather like the old translator's version of
gpt
Il y a de bons mariages; mais il n'y en a point de delicieux --
human
Marriage is sometimes convenient, but never delightful.
gpt
Again,
human
and a rather insulting sort too.
gpt
Almost everybody likes to repay small favours; many people can be grateful for favours not too weighty, but for favours truly great there is scarce anything but ingratitude. They must have been small favours that Wordsworth had conferred when