"Rather say resolved—je veux is life's passport."
"You must not judge of others by yourself; you will surely allow that your own lot in life has been a golden one."
"It is of my own gilding, then. My first design was magnificent, and spoke genius; but it was rashly conceived and rashly executed. Of course it was unsuccessful; but it was not without profit. Your proverb I will answer with another: 'He who aims at being Pope will die Cardinal at least.' I lost the heart of Louis, but I gained the hand of the Comte de Soissons; and a prince of the blood royal, rich and manageable, was no bad beginning for la petite Italienne. Marriage in real life is the very reverse of what it is in romances; we begin where they finish. I felt that a brilliant marriage was but the very commencement of my career. To assist my friends (because, if they hope nothing from you, what have you to hope from them?)—to injure my enemies, for fear is the best preventive—to make a failure useful, if only in its experience, have been my rules. I can recommend them by the best test, success. Shew me any one at our court who possesses my influence. The Queen Mother detests, but she dreads me—my uncle is indifferent, but finds me of use—our new
