There is no point in the history of reform, either in communities or individuals, so dangerous as that where danger seems entirely past. As long as a man thinks his health failing, he watches, he diets, and will undergo the most heroic self-denial; but let him once set himself down as cured, and how readily does he fall back to one soft, indulgent habit after another, all tending to ruin everything that he has before done!
Self-deception.
How strange that a man may appear doomed, given up, and lost, to the eye of every looker-on, before he begins to suspect himself!
Convenient duties.
What would people do if the convenient shelter of duty did not afford them a retreat in cases where they are disposed to change their minds?
Too much heart.
A man can sometimes become an old bachelor because he has too much heart, as well as too little.