Since I am a man, my heart is three or four times less sensitive, because I have three or four times as much power of reason and experience of the world—a thing which you women call hard-heartedness. As a man, I can take refuge in having mistresses. The more of them I have, and the greater the scandal, the more I acquire reputation and brilliance in society.
ATTRIBUTION:
Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842), French author. letter to his sister Pauline, Aug. 29, 1804.
