James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899. Charron
Despair is like froward children, who, when you take away one of their playthings, throw the rest into the fire for madness. 1 Great towns are but a large sort of prison to the soul, like cages to birds or pounds to beasts. 2 He that boasts of his ancestors confesses that he has no virtue of his own. 3 La vraie science et le vrai étude de l’homme, c’est l’homme—The real science and the real study for man, is man himself. 4 Le premier soupir de l’amour est le dernier de la sagesse—The first sigh of love is the last of wisdom. 5 Mutability is the badge of infirmity. 6 Pleasure and pain, though directly opposite, are yet so contrived by nature as to be constant companions. 7 The certain way to be cheated is to fancy one’s self more cunning than others. 8 The same motions and muscles of the face are employed both in laughing and crying. 9 Wise men mingle mirth with their cares, as a help either to forget or overcome them; but to resort to intoxication for the ease of one’s mind is to cure melancholy by madness. 10 Wounds and hardships provoke our courage, and when our fortunes are at the lowest, our wits and minds are commonly at the best. 11
