Now that I am no longer young, I declare that few passages in my life afford me so much satisfaction as those in which I made sacrifices, or denied myself enjoyments.

'Das Entsagen' [11the forbidden] is the motto of the wise man.

Self-denial is the quality of which Jesus Christ set us the example." [1113] The French historian Michelet makes the following touching reference to his mother in the Preface to one of his most popular books, the subject of much embittered controversy at the time at which it appeared:-- "Whilst writing all this, I have had in my mind a woman, whose strong and serious mind would not have failed to support me in these contentions.

I lost her thirty years ago [11I was a child then]--nevertheless, ever living in my memory, she follows me from age to age.
"She suffered with me in my poverty, and was not allowed to share my better fortune.

When young, I made her sad, and now I cannot console her.