Inclination snatches arguments To make indulgence seem judicious choice. - George Eliot

What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best self.

"Jubal," the face said, "I am thy loved Past, The soul that makes thee one from first to last. I am the angel of thy life and death, Thy outbreathed being drawing its last breath. Am I not thine alone, a dear dead bride Who blest thy lot above all men's beside?

Love does not aim simply at the conscious good of the beloved object: it is not satisfied without perfect loyalty of heart; it aims at its own completeness.