The morality of our actions consists entirely in the judgments we ourselves form with regard to them.  If good is good, it must be good in the depth of our heart as well as in our actions; and the first reward of justice is the consciousness that we are acting justly.  If moral goodness is in accordance with our nature, man can only be healthy in mind and body when he is good.  If it is not so, and if man is by nature evil, he cannot cease to be evil without corrupting his nature, and goodness in him is a crime against nature.  If he is made to do harm to his fellow-creatures, as the wolf is made to devour his prey, a humane man would be as depraved a creature as a pitiful wolf; and virtue alone would cause remorse.

My young friend, let us look within, let us set aside all personal prejudices and see whither our inclinations lead us.  Do we take more pleasure in the sight of the sufferings of others or their joys?  Is it pleasanter to do a kind action or an unkind action, and which leaves the more delightful memory behind it?  Why do you enjoy the theatre?  Do you delight in the crimes you behold?  Do you weep over the punishment which overtakes the criminal?  They say we are indifferent to everything but self-interest; yet we find our consolation in our sufferings in the charms of friendship and humanity, and even in our pleasures we should be too lonely and miserable if we had no one to share them with us.  If there is no such thing as morality in man’s heart, what is the source of his rapturous admiration of noble deeds, his passionate devotion to great men?  What connection is there between self-interest and this enthusiasm for virtue?  Why should I choose to be Cato dying by his own hand, rather than Caesar in his triumphs?  Take from our hearts this love of what is noble and you rob us of the joy of life.  The mean-spirited man in whom these delicious feelings have been stifled among vile passions, who by thinking of no one but himself comes at last to love no one but himself, this man feels no raptures, his cold heart no longer throbs with joy, and his eyes no longer fill with the sweet tears of sympathy, he delights in nothing; the wretch has neither life nor feeling, he is already dead.

There are many bad men in this world, but there are few of these dead souls, alive only to self-interest, and insensible to all that is right and good.  We only delight in injustice so long as it is to our own advantage; in every other case we wish the innocent to be protected.  If we see some act of violence or injustice in town or country, our hearts are at once stirred to their depths by an instinctive anger and wrath, which bids us go to the help of the oppressed; but we are restrained by a stronger duty, and the law deprives us of our right to protect the innocent.  On the other hand, if some deed of mercy or generosity meets our eye, what reverence and love does it inspire!  Do we not say to ourselves, “I should like to have done that myself”?  What does it matter