O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other. – Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution

The doctors tell us of a physical disease called fatty degeneration of the heart… there is a moral malady—fatty degeneration of the soul; sooner or later it attacks every man, however noble his career, who puts self forward in his aims; who values fame because a personal possession. – Frank Lee Benedict, The Price She Paid, 1882

Nature does not deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves. – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762