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This etext was produced by David Widger <[email protected]>

WIDGER'S QUOTATIONS

FROM THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EDITION OF THE MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA DE SEINGALT

by David Widger

EDITOR'S NOTE

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FROM THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE:

A series of adventures wilder and more fantastic than the wildest of romances, written down with the exactitude of a business diary; a view of men and cities from Naples to Berlin, from Madrid and London to Constantinople and St. Petersburg; the 'vie intime' of the eighteenth century depicted by a man, who to-day sat with cardinals and saluted crowned heads, and to morrow lurked in dens of profligacy and crime; a book of confessions penned without reticence and without penitence; a record of forty years of "occult" charlatanism; a collection of tales of successful imposture, of 'bonnes fortunes', of marvellous escapes, of transcendent audacity, told with the humour of Smollett and the delicate wit of Voltaire. Who is there interested in men and letters, and in the life of the past, who would not cry, "Where can such a book as this be found?"

WIDGER'S QUOTATIONS

CONTENTS:

Dec 2001 The Complete Memoires of Jacques Casanova [JC#31][csnvaxxx.xxx]2981
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v30, Old Age and Death, Casanova [JC#30][jcagdxxx.xxx]2980
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v29, Florence to Trieste, Casanova[JC#29][jcfltxxx.xxx]2979
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v28, Rome, by Jacques Casanova [JC#28][jcromxxx.xxx]2978
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v27, Expelled from Spain, Casanova[JC#27][jcexpxxx.xxx]2977
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v26, Spain, by Jacques Casanova [JC#26][jcspnxxx.xxx]2976
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v25, Russia and Poland, Casanova [JC#25][jcrplxxx.xxx]2975
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v24, London to Berlin, by Casanova[JC#24][jclbrxxx.xxx]2974
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v23, The English, by J. Casanova [JC#23][jcengxxx.xxx]2973
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v22, To London, by J. Casanova [JC#22][jclonxxx.xxx]2972
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v21, South of France, by Casanova [JC#21][jcsfrxxx.xxx]2971
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v20, Milan, by Jacques Casanova [JC#20][jcmilxxx.xxx]2970
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v19, Back Again to Paris, Casanova[JC#19][jcbprxxx.xxx]2969
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v18, Return to Naples, by Casanova[JC#18][jcrnpxxx.xxx]2968
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v17, Return to Italy, by Casanova [JC#17][jcritxxx.xxx]2967
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v16, Depart Switzerland, Casanova [JC#16][jcdswxxx.xxx]2966
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v15, With Voltaire, by J. Casanova[JC#15][jcvltxxx.xxx]2965
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v14, Switzerland, by J. Casanova [JC#14][jcswtxxx.xxx]2964
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v13, Holland and Germany, Casanova[JC#13][jchgrxxx.xxx]2963
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v12, Return to Paris, by Casanova [JC#12][jcrprxxx.xxx]2962
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v11, Paris and Holland, Casanova [JC#11][jcphlxxx.xxx]2961
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v10, Under the Leads, by Casanova [JC#10][jculdxxx.xxx]2960
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v9, The False Nun, by Casanova [JC#9][jcflnxxx.xxx]2959
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v8, Convent Affairs, Casanova [JC#8][jcconxxx.xxx]2958
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v7, Venice, by Casanova [JC#7][jcvenxxx.xxx]2957
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v6, Paris, by Casanova [JC#6][jcparxxx.xxx]2956
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v5, Milan and Mantua, by Casanova [JC#5][jcmmnxxx.xxx]2955
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v4, Return to Venice, Casanova [JC#4][jcrvnxxx.xxx]2954
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v3, Military Career, Casanova [JC#3][jcmcrxxx.xxx]2953
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v2, A Cleric in Naples, Casanova [JC#2][jcclnxxx.xxx]2952
Dec 2001 Memoirs, v1, Childhood, by Casanova [JC#1][jccldxxx.xxx]2951

CHILDHOOD
[JC#1][jccld10.xxx]2951

He ordered me never to open my lips except to answer direct questions, and particularly enjoined me never to pass an opinion on any subject, because at my age I could not be allowed to have any opinions.

This worthy lady inspired me with the deepest attachment, and she gave me the wisest advice. Had I followed it, and profited by it, my life would not have been exposed to so many storms; it is true that in that case, my life would not be worth writing.

"The famous precept of the Stoic philosophers," he said to me, "'Sequere Deum', can be perfectly explained by these words: 'Give yourself up to whatever fate offers to you, provided you do not feel an invincible repugnance to accept it.'"

It was ridiculous, of course; but when does man cease to be so?

We get rid of our vices more easily than of our follies.

A CLERIC IN NAPLES
[JC#2][jccln10.xxx]2952

Suffering is inherent in human nature; but we never suffer without entertaining the hope of recovery, or, at least, very seldom without such hope, and hope itself is a pleasure. If it happens sometimes that man suffers without any expectation of a cure, he necessarily finds pleasure in the complete certainty of the end of his life; for the worst, in all cases, must be either a sleep arising from extreme dejection, during which we have the consolation of happy dreams or the loss of all sensitiveness. But when we are happy, our happiness is never disturbed by the thought that it will be followed by grief. Therefore pleasure, during its active period, is always complete, without alloy; grief is always soothed by hope.

If this and if that, and every other if was conjured up to torment my restless and wretched brain.

People did not want to know things as they truly were, but only as they wished them to be.

MILITARY CAREER
[JC#3][jcmcr10.xxx]2953

It is well known that the first result of anger is to deprive the angry man of the faculty of reason, for anger and reason do not belong to the same family.

Acting on the political axiom that "neglected right is lost right,"….

If you would relish pleasure you must endure pain, and delights are in proportion to the privations