Is it easier to penetrate the secrets of the human heart than the secrets of nature, or will it take less time?
We are always making new discoveries about its passions and desires.

To take only the tragedies of Corneille you will find there finer and more delicate reflections on ambition, vengeance, and jealousy than in all the books of antiquity.

At the close of his Parallel, however, Perrault, while he declares the general superiority of the moderns, makes a reservation in regard to poetry and eloquence "for the sake of peace." The discussion of Perrault falls far short of embodying a full idea of Progress.

Not only is he exclusively concerned with progress in knowledge--though he implies, indeed, without developing, the doctrine that happiness depends on knowledge--but he has no eyes for the future, and no interest in it.

He is so impressed with the advance of knowledge in the recent past that he is almost incapable of imagining further progression.