Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our powers. Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion. Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest. Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies. So as long as a person is capable of self-renewal, they are a living being. To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living. To marry unequally is to suffer equally. To shun one's cross is to make it heavier. True love is that which ennobles the personality, fortifies the heart, and sanctifies the existence. We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. | 
