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121 " Vous posséder et vous perdre, c’est acheter un moment de bonheur par une éternité de regrets. "
― Pierre Choderlos de Laclos , Les Liaisons dangereuses
122 " What can I say? — I love, — yes, I love to distraction! "
123 " Ces Tyrans détrônés devenus mes esclaves "
124 " Our reason, inadequate as it is to warn us of impending disasters, is even more inadequate to offer us any comfort for them. "
125 " La honte que cause l'amour est comme sa douleur : on ne l'éprouve qu'une fois. On peut encore la feindre après ; mais on ne la sent plus. Cependant le plaisir reste, et c'est bien quelque chose. "
126 " Pourquoi faut-il que ces projets charmants ne soient qu'un chimère de mon imagination, que la réalité ne m'offre au contraire que des privations douloureuses et indéfinies ? "
127 " God, aren't brainy people obtuse! "
128 " If they do not see me at work, they shall at least see my work completed; they will then have nothing to do but to admire and applaud: for they shall applaud. "
129 " Your happiness is my concern, and you may be certain that in it I shall find my own. "
130 " À force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve ; on les dit ; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir. "
131 " What woman of honour, besides, would resolve on doing what she knows she will be obliged to conceal? "
132 " The profligate wretch has his virtues as well as the virtuous man his weaknesses. "
133 " … the charm of love resides in the qualities of the soul. "
134 " You must be careful not to vex old ladies: they're the ones who decide young women's reputations. "
135 " It's the little details that make for plausibility and plausibility makes fibs immaterial because nobody feels the need to check them. "
136 " should have been with you this morning; but my doctor will not allow me to miss a day from my bath. "
137 " Can there be a sweeter pleasure than to be at peace with oneself, to enjoy days of unbroken calm, to fall asleep without anxiety and to wake without remorse? What you call happiness is but a tumult of the senses, a tempestuous sea of passions, a fearful spectacle even when it is viewed from the shore. So how can I confront these storms? How dare I embark upon a sea covered in the debris of thousands upon thousands of shipwrecks? And with whom? "
138 " Love is an independent spirit; being cautious may help us to avoid it but can never enable us to overcome it; once it's born, it can only die of natural causes or complete hopelessness. "
139 " You'll find the pain is like the shame, you only feel it once. "
140 " the true maxim is, not give into excess, but with those one wishes to be rid of. "