Charles de Saint-Évremond

“ Corneille, who sufficiently discovers himself without being named, becomes an ordinary man when he speaks for himself. He dares say any thing for a Greek or a Roman : a Frenchman or Spaniard abates his Courage; and when he speaks for him, he is quite dispirited. He racks his Imagination for all that is noble to adorn his old Heroes, and you would say, that he debarr’d himself the advantage of his own wealth, as if he were not worthy the use of it.
If you know the world perfectly, you will find in it abundance of men valuable for their Talents, and as contemptible for their Failings. ”

“ In Love ill plac’d, the sentiments of Amity entertain us purely by their own agreeable sweetness : but we ought to divest our selves of a just hatred, for the interest of our own quiet. Happy were that mind which could entirely resist some Passions, and only unbend it self to some others. It would then be void of Fear, Sadness, Hatred, or Jealousy. It wou’d desire, without Violence; hope, without Uneasiness; and enjoy, without Transport.
The state of Virtue is not a state of Indolence. We suffer in it, a perpetual conflict betwixt Duty and Inclination. ”

“ The idea a man has of himself by a bare attention to internal meditations, is always a little confus’d. The Image which is outwardly express’d, is much more exact, and gives us a much truer judgment of our selves, when it is again submitted to the examination of the mind, after having been laid before our eyes. Besides, the flattering opinion of our own merit, loses half its charms, as soon as it comes into the light; and the complacency of self-love insensibly vanishing, leaves behind it only a disgust of its sweetness, and shame for a vanity as foolishly entertain’d, as judiciously quitted. ”

“ Those whom cross accidents of Fortune have undone, are pitied by all the world, because it is a misfortune attending the condition of humanity, to which every body is liable : those that are reduc’d to Misery by vain profusion, raise more contempt than commiseration; because it is the effect of a private Folly, from which every man has the good conceit to think himself free. Add to this, that nature always suffers a little by compassion, and to relieve her self of an uneasy thought, she contemplates the folly of the Prodigal, instead of resting upon the prospect of the Beggar. ”

“ Let us not flatter our selves with our judgment : a brisk buffoonry will run it down; and the false glittering of a youthful fancy, will turn to ridicule, the most delicate of our Conversations. If we have wit, let us make a better use of it in private Companies; for in a croud the qualities of the mind maintain themselves but ill, against the advantages of the body.
This justice which we are oblig’d to do our selves, ought not to make us unjust to the young men. ”

“ The Reformed Religion divests men of all confidence in their own merit. The opinion of Predestination, which they begin to be disgusted with, but dare not forego, lest they should be thought to recant, leaves the Mind languid, unmov’d, without affection, under pretence of waiting with submission for the will of Heaven. They are content barely to obey, and seek not to please; and in a set common Worship, make God the object rather of their Regularity than their Love. To preserve Religion in its Purity, the Calvinists endeavour to reform every thing that appears human ”

“ I confess, I have formerly been more difficult in the choice of the Men with whom I convers’d, than at present I am; and I think my self not so much a loser in point of Delicacy, as a gainer in point of Sense. I then sought for men that could please me in every thing, I now seek every thing that may please me in any man. A man in all respects agreeable, is too great a rarity, and it is no wisdom to hunt for what we are hardly ever like to find. ”

“ When I am deprived of the conversation of the Men of the World, I have recourse to the Learned; and if I meet with men skill’d in polite Literature, I think my self no great loser by exchanging the delicacy of the present, for that of past ages. But we rarely meet with persons that have a true Judgment : which, in many Scholars, renders Literature a very tiresome knowledge. ”

“ Ingratitude is the main ingredient in their composition; with that their Heart, their Soul, and every part is season’d : they make no returns to Love, not because they are hard and insensible, but because they are ungrateful.
This Ingratitude, which is rooted in one’s Heart or Constitution, is, of all the kinds of it, the most opposite to Humanity : for generous Persons may sometimes make off the remembrance of a benefit, to ease themselves of the trouble that some Obligations are apt to give. But Friendship knits, not fetters us together ”

“ The delicacy of Love sooths me, and its tenderness touches me; and as in Spain they love the best of any Country in the world, I am never weary of reading in their Authors amorous Adventures. I am more affected with the passion of one of their Lovers, than I should be with my own, were I yet capable of any. The very imagination of those Amours raises in me certain motions for the Gallant, which I could never feel for my self. ”

“ The immoderate Ambition of knowledge extends it self beyond nature, even so far as to enquire into what is most mysterious in its Author, not so much out of a design to adore him, as out of a vain curiosity of knowing all things. This vice is close attended by another; Curiosity breeds Presumption; and being as bold in defining, as indiscreet in inquiring, we erect, as it were, an infallible Science of those things which are to us altogether inconceivable. So depravedly do we use the will and understanding! we proudly aspire to know every thing, and cannot ”

“ And what is this, but to require a disposition of Heart as well towards God as Man? It is properly to oblige us to do out of a principle of Love, what the Civil Government enjoins by rigorous Laws, and Morality prescribes by a severe order of Reason.
Charity makes us relieve and succour, while Justice forbids us to do wrong. The latter with difficulty hinders opposition; the other with pleasure, procures relief. Those who have the true sentiments that our Religion inspires, can’t be unfaithful to a Friend, or ungrateful to a Benefactor. ”

“ There is another sort of Ingratitude, founded on a conceit of our own worth, when Self-love represents a favour bestow’d upon us, as a piece of justice done to us.
The love of Liberty has likewise its Ingratitude, as well as Self-love. The only subjedtion it allows, is to the Laws; but out of abhorrence of a dependence, it hates the memory of Obligations that shew a superiority in the Benefactor. This makes Republicans ungrateful. They think that a diminution of their Liberty, which is allow’d to Gratitude. Thus Brutus thought it meritorious to sacrifice his Obligations to Liberty. ”

“ Sometimes we admit what’s shocking to us, and sometimes oppose what we like; being generally under a Constraint, both in what we do, and in what we forbear. The state of Wisdom is sweet and calm : it reigns peaceably over our movements, being only to govern well as Subjects, what Virtue was to combat as Enemies.
I can say one thing of my self, as extraordinary as true, viz. that I never felt in my self any conflict between Passion and Reason. ”

“ It is a secret aversion to Justice that makes us fonder of giving than returning, of obliging than acknowledging. Thus we see the most liberal, generous men, are not usually the most just. Justice includes a regularity that lays a constraint upon them, as being founded on a constant order of Reason, opposite to those natural impulses, which are the hinges upon which Liberality almost always moves. ”

“ But if rightly apprehended, I dare say the Spirit of both Religions is differently grounded on good Principles; only one extends farther the exercise of Good Works; with the other, the cautions to avoid Evil, are more exact. The Catholick with an active resolution, and loving industry, is perpetually seeking some new way of pleasing God. The Reformed, stinted by circumspection and respect, dares not venture beyond a known precept, for fear by imagin’d novelties, of giving too much sway to his fancy. ”

“ What we now call RELIGIONS, is indeed but a difference in Religion, and not a different Religion. I rejoice that my Faith is more sound than a Protestant’s : yet instead of hating him for this difference of opinion, I love him because he agrees with me in the Fundamentals. The means at length to agree in the whole, is always to communicate in something. A desire of Re-union can never be inspir’d, till the enmity that arises from division be suppress’d. ”

“ Good Works follow necesiarily from this principle; for Love once receiv’d within, actuates us without, and puts us upon endeavouring all we can to please him we love. All we have to fear in this case is, lest the source of this Love, the Heart, should be corrupted by the mixture of any Passion altogether human. It is likewise to be feared, that instead of obeying the Ordinance of God, we should frame methods of serving him according to our own fancies. But if this Love be real and pure, nothing in the world yields such true sweetness and satisfaction. ”

“ Every day frees me from one link at least of the chain, nor is it less for the advantage of those from whom I disengage my self, than me who regain my Liberty. They are as great gainers in the loss of a useless man, as I should have been a loser, by idly devoting my self any longer to them. ”

“ They are only entertain’d with harangues about Valour, which is only an instrument of Destruction; and Discourses of Liberality, which is but a more regular method of squandering, unless they be bounded by Justice. ’Tis true, the Doctrine of every Virtue ought to be suited to the necessities of every one’s temper : to infuse liberality into the Covetous, to excite the Unactive with the thirst of Glory, and curb, as much as is possible, the Ambitious with the reins of Justice. ”

“ With these good sentiments, a Heart innocently loves those objects God has made amiable, and the most innocent part of our Loves is the most charming and tender.
Let gross and sensual persons complain of our Religion for the constraint it lays upon them; yet the nice and refined will commend it for sparing them disgusts and repentance. More skilful than voluptuous Philosophy in the science of Pleasures, and wiser than severe Philosophy in point of Morality, it refines our taste to Delicacy, and our sentiments to Innocence. ”

“ I love the science of those great Lawyers and Civilians, who might themselves be Legislators; who re-ascend to that original Justice that settled human Society; who know what Liberty nature allows in establish’d Governments; and how far the natural liberty of private Persons is restrain’d for the publick good by necessary Politicks. ”

“ His immensity confounds our narrow Intellects : his bounty agrees better with our Love. There is I know not what within us, that secretly pleads for a God, whom we cannot comprehend; and hence it is, that to succeed in the Conversion of men, we must settle a pleasing commerce with them, by means of which we may inipire them with the same movements : for in disputes of Religion, the mind in vain strains it self to make us see what we see not; but in a sweet and pious familiarity, it is easy for the Soul to infuse Sentiments. ”