No one is exempt from speaking foolishly;
the evil thing is to do so on purpose. . . . Our structure within and without is full of imperfections. Yet there is nothing useless in nature, not even inutility itself. There is nothing grafted into our being that does not hold some opportune place in it. We are cemented with bad qualities; ambition, jealousy, envy, vengeance, superstition and despair lodge in us so naturally that their image is recognised even in the beasts, . . . he who would divest man of the seeds of these qualities would destroy the fundamental conditions of our life.
. . . For my part, I may wish in general
to be different from what I am. I may condemn and dislike my whole life and beg of Almighty God to reform me entirely, and that He will graciously pardon my natural failings. But this does not prove my repentance, no more than would my dissatisfaction at not being an angel or Cato. . . .
As for the rest, I hate the accidental repentance
which old age brings with it. He
