[4] It is this kind of timidity which is decisive, and which is proof of passion-love in a clever man.
[5] Remember that, if the author uses sometimes the expression "I," it is an attempt to give the form of this essay a little variety. He does not in the least pretend to fill the readers' ears with the story of his own feelings. His aim is to impart, with as little monotony as possible, what he has observed in others.
[6] Resides in exactly the same actions.
[7] Haec autem ad acerbam rei memoriam, amara quadam dulcedine, scribere visum est—ut cogitem nihil esse debere quod amplius mihi placeat in hac vita. (Petrarch, Ed. Marsand.) [These things, to be a painful reminder, yet not without a certain bitter charm, I have seen good to write—to remind me that nothing any longer can give me pleasure in this life.—Tr.]
15 January, 1819.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Always a little doubt to allay—that is what whets our appetite every moment, that is what makes the life of happy love. As it is never separated from fear, so its pleasures can never tire. The characteristic of this happiness is its high seriousness.