There is no harm in steeplechases if you do not break your neck, nor in playing cards if you do not play high, nor in drinking a glass of champagne now and then--no harm at all, that I can see.

But, of course, so long as your lungs are delicate, you must be careful." "Confound my lungs!" exclaimed Marcello with unusual energy.

"I believe that I am much stronger than any of you think." "I am sometimes inclined to believe it too," Corbario answered encouragingly.
"And I am quite sure that it would do me good to forget all about them and live as if there were nothing the matter with me.

Don't you think so yourself ?" Corbario made a gesture of doubt, as if it were possible after all.
"Of course I don't mean dissipation," Marcello went on to say, suddenly assuming the manner of an elderly censor of morals, simply because he did not know what he was talking about.

"I don't mean reckless dissipation." "Of course not," Folco answered gravely.