His virtue is all the more pleasant to him because it recalls a reformation on his part and because it has called for self-denial.

I started to say that it had called for mortification of the flesh, but I shan't.

Despite the contrary opinions of the early fathers of the church, I hold that the mortification of the flesh is really based upon the flesh itself, where there is too much of it for beauty and grace, not merely upon the process employed in getting rid of it.
Ask any fat man--or better still, any formerly fat man--if I am not correct.

But do not ask a fat woman unless, as in the case of possible fire at a theater, you already have looked about you and chosen the nearest exit.

Taken as a sex, women are more likely to be touchy upon this detail where it applies to themselves than men are.
I have a notion that probably the late Lucrezia Borgia did not start feeding her house guests on those deep-dish poison pies with which her name historically is associated until after she grew sensitive about the way folks dropping in at the Borgia home for a visit were sizing up her proportions on the bias, so to speak.