* * *
He is a fool who does not bear himself before his
lady-love as a prince among men.
* * *
Some men are so gallant that they will never be
outdone by the woman who encourages them.
But it often leads to strange embarrassments and entanglements.
* * *
Few things terrify a man more than the knowledge
of a woman’s ability to make her emotions—when, if ever, he arrives at it.
* * *
That is a very silly man who thing she can play
one woman off against
another.
For
In matters of emotional finesse the masculine
instance is nowhere: it is blinded, befogged, befooled at every turn.
Heaven help the man who is dragged into a quarrel
between two wrathful ladies!
* * *
Three things there be—nay, four—which man can
never be sure, how a greatsoever his acumen, his astuteness, or his zeal: a
woman; a race horse; a patent; and the money-market. They defy both faith and fate; they should be
the recreations not the resources of life; and he is a fool who stakes more
than a portion of his substance on any one of them.
* * *
What a paltry thing, after all, is man, man
uncomplemented by woman! Left to himself, he stagnates; linked with a woman, he
rises---or sinks. A gentle touch
stimulates him, a confiding heart makes of him a new creature. Under the rays of feminine sympathy, he
expands who else would remain inert.
Fame may allure him, friends encourage him, fortune cause him a
momentary smile, but only woman makes him; and fame, friends, fortune, all are
naught if there be not at his side a sharer of his weal. A man will strive for fortune, strip himself
for friends, scour the earth for fame; but were there no woman in the world to
be won, not one of these things would he do.
* * *
III. On Women