“ A lifetime may be needed merely to gain the virtues which annul the errors of man’s preceding life. First comes the life of suffering, whose tortures create a thirst for love. ”
Honoré de Balzac, Séraphîta (1834). copy citation
| Author | Honoré de Balzac |
|---|---|
| Source | Séraphîta |
| Topic | virtue error |
| Date | 1834 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1432/1432-h/1432-h.htm |
Context
“He feels his way amid the void, makes trial of nothingness, and then at last his eyes revert upon the Path. Then follow other existences,—all to be lived to reach the place where Light effulgent shines. Death is the post-house of the journey. A lifetime may be needed merely to gain the virtues which annul the errors of man’s preceding life. First comes the life of suffering, whose tortures create a thirst for love. Next the life of love and devotion to the creature, teaching devotion to the Creator,—a life where the virtues of love, its martyrdoms, its joys followed by sorrows, its angelic hopes, its patience, its resignation, excite an appetite for things divine.”
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