At these words the dervish shut the door in their faces.—Candide.
[Motives for Conduct]
Countess: Apropos, I have forgotten to ask your opinion upon a matter which I read yesterday in a story by these good Mohammedans, which much struck me. Hassan, son of Ali, being bathing, one of his slaves threw over him by accident some boiling water. His servants wished to impale the culprit. Hassan, instead, gave him twenty pieces of gold. “There is,” said he, “a degree of glory in Paradise for those who repay services, a greater one for those who forgive evil, and a still greater one for those who recompense involuntary evil.” What think you of his action and his speech?
The Count: I recognise there my good Moslems of the first ages.
Abbé: And I, my good Christians.
M. Fréret: And I am sorry that the scalded Hassan, son of Ali, should have given twenty pieces of gold in order to have glory in Paradise. I do not like interested fine actions. I should have wished that Hassan had been sufficiently virtuous and humane to have consoled the despair of the slave without even dreaming of being placed in the third rank in Paradise.—Le Diner du Comte de Boulainvilliers.
[Self-Love]
Self-love and all its off-shoots are as necessary to man as the blood which flows in his veins. Those who would take away his passions because they are dangerous resemble those who would deplete a man of all his blood lest he should fall into apoplexy.—Traité de Metaphysique.
[Go From Your Village]
A stupid said: “I must think like my bonze (priest), for all my village agrees with him.” Go from your village, poor man, and you will find ten thousand others who have each their bonze, and who all think differently.