I wished to answer him, but I could only think of commonplace consolations, and I remained silent.

The joiner pretended he needed a tool, and left me.
Poor father! Ah! I know those moments of temptation when virtue has failed to reward us, and we regret having obeyed her! Who has not felt this weakness in hours of trial, and who has not uttered, at least once, the mournful exclamation of Brutus?
But if virtue is only a word, what is there then in life that is true and real?
No, I will not believe that goodness is in vain! It does not always give the happiness we had hoped for, but it brings some other.

In the world everything is ruled by order, and has its proper and necessary consequences, and virtue cannot be the sole exception to the general law.

If it had been prejudicial to those who practised it, experience would have avenged them; but experience has, on the contrary, made it more universal and more holy.

We only accuse it of being a faithless debtor because we demand an immediate payment, and one apparent to our senses.