What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? who knows? How strange and changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to m… - Guy de Maupassant

How strange and changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us!

For several days in succession fragments of a defeated army had passed through the town. They were mere disorganized bands, not disciplined forces. The men wore long, dirty beards and tattered uniforms; they advanced in listless fashion, without a flag, without a leader. All seemed exhausted, worn out, incapable of thought or resolve, marching onward merely by force of habit, and dropping to the ground with fatigue the moment they halted.

True love in my view can only flourish in conditions where there is a mixture of freedom and constraint. An imposed love, sanctioned by law and blessed by a priest does not really seem the same thing at all

We live always under the weight of the old and odious customs … of our barbarous ancestors.