He was a man of austere virtue, but he took care to hide the austerity under a veil of a real and universal kindness. Undoubtedly he thought little of the ignorant, who talk about everything right or wrong, instead of remaining silent, and have at bottom only contempt for the learned; but he only shewed his contempt by saying nothing. He knew that a despised ignoramus becomes an enemy. For in the night, you know, all cats are grey. M. de Voltaire is a man who ought to be known, although, in spite of the laws of nature, many persons have found him greater at a distance than close at hand. "How is it," said I, "that he did not attain mature age?"--"Because there is no cure for death." I concluded that a man who wants to be well informed should read first and then correct his knowledge by travel. To know ill is worse than not to know at all, and Montaigne says that we ought to know things well. WITH VOLTAIRE [JC#15][jcvlt10.xxx]2965 I should have considered that if it had not been for those quips and cranks which made me hate him on the third day, I should have thought him wholly sublime. This thought alone should have silenced me, but an angry man always thinks himself right. The essence of freedom consists in thinking you have it. A nation without superstition would be a nation of philosophers, and philosophers would never obey. "Reading a history is the easier way."--"Yes, if history did not lie." Love always makes men selfish, since all the sacrifices they make for the beloved object are always ultimately referable to their own desires. DEPART SWITZERLAND [JC#16][jcdsw10.xxx]2966 Gladness, madam, is the lot of the happy, and sadness the portion of souls condemned to everlasting pains. Be cheerful, then, and you will do something to deserve your beauty. The best plan in this world is to be astonished at nothing. "What's an evasion?"--"A way of escaping from a difficulty without satisfying impertinent curiosity." I had rather be your debtor than for you to be mine. RETURN TO ITALY [JC#17][jcrit10.xxx]2967 For is love anything else than a kind of curiosity? I think not; and what makes me certain is that when the curiosity is satisfied the love disappears. Love makes no conditions. I looked at her with the submissive gaze of a captive who glories in his chain. He had never married, and when asked the reason would reply that he knew too well that women would be either tyrants or slaves, and that he did not want to be a tyrant to any woman, nor to be under any woman's orders. I paid a second time, laughing at the clever rascal who had taken me in so thoroughly. Such are the lessons of life; always full of new experiences, and yet one never knows enough. Return to Naples [JC#18][jcrnp10.xxx]2968 "The time will come," said I, "when you will diminish the tale of your years instead of increasing it."