Development of the portrait. Supremacy of the pure idea in the Christian as in the Babouvian communist.
Fanaticism of humility. Not even to aspire to understand religion.
XLIV
In love, as in almost all human affairs, the entente cordial is the result of misunderstanding. The misunderstanding is pleasure. The man cries: "Oh my angel!"
The woman coos: "Mamma! Mamma!" And the two imbeciles are persuaded that they are thinking in concert.—The insuperable gulf, which bars communication, remains unabridged.
XLV
Why is the spread of the sea so infinitely and so eternally agreeable?
Because the sea conveys the thought both of immensity and of movement. Six or seven leagues are for man the radius of the infinite. 'Tis a diminutive infinite. What matter, if it suffice to suggest the whole? Twelve or fourteen leagues of liquid in movement are enough to convey the highest ideal of beauty which is offered to man in his transitory habitation.