Chapter V
Man is not free to avoid doing that which gives him more pleasure to do than all other possible actions.1
Love is like the fever5, it is born and spends itself without the slightest intervention of the will. That is one of the principal differences between gallant-love and passion-love. And you cannot give yourself credit for the fair qualities in what you really love, any more than for a happy chance.
Further, love is of all ages: observe the passion of Madame du Deffant for the graceless Horace Walpole. A more recent and more pleasing example is perhaps still remembered in Paris.
In proof of great passions I admit only those of their consequences, which are exposed to ridicule: timidity, for example, proves love. I am not speaking of the bashfulness of the enfranchised schoolboy.
Notes
1 As regards crime, it belongs to good education to inspire remorse, which, foreseen, acts as a counterbalance.