Passe

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"Though man is free, he must not believe that he is free to do whatever he wants. He becomes a slave when he resolves to act upon a passion that stirs him. Nisi paret imperat. («If he does not obey, he commands.») He who has the strength to take no further steps until calm prevails is a wise man. Such a being is rare." [...]

"Despite an excellent moral foundation, the inevitable fruit of the divine principles rooted in my heart, I was prey to my senses throughout my life. I took pleasure in straying, and I lived perpetually in error, with no other consolation than an awareness of doing so." [...]

"My sanguine temperament made me very sensitive to the allurements of all forms of sensual delight; I was always cheerful and eager to move on from one pleasure to the next, and ingeniously inventing new forms of it. From this derived my inclination to seek new friendships, as well as my ease in breaking them off, although it was always in full knowledge of the reasons, and never out of fickleness. Defects of temperament cannot be corrected, since temperament is beyond our powers. Character, however, is another matter. The heart and mind are its constituent elements, with temperament having very little influence on it. It thus follows that character depends on upbringing, and can be corrected and reformed."

Giacomo Casanova, Of Mistresses, Tigresses and Other Conquests (Penguin Great Loves)