Whoever is endowed with a power superior to mankind, should also be above the weakness of humanity, without which, that excess of strength would, in … - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The indolence I love is not that of a lazy fellow who sits with his arms across in total inaction, and thinks no more than he acts,...

...but that of a child which is incessantly in motion doing nothing, and that of a dotard who wanders from his subject.

Those who read this will not fail to laugh at my gallantries, and remark, that after very promising preliminaries, my most forward adventures concluded by a kiss of the hand: yet be not mistaken, reader, in your estimate of my enjoyments; I have, perhaps, tasted more real pleasure in my amours, which concluded by a kiss of the hand, than you will ever have in yours, which, at least, begin there.

My love for imaginary objects and my facility in lending myself to them ended by disillusioning me with everything around me, and determined that love of solitude which I have retained ever since that time.