With the exception of the one self-existing Being, there is nothing beautiful except that which is not.  If that state could have lasted for ever, you would have found perfect happiness.  But all that is related to man shares his decline; all is finite, all is fleeting in human life, and even if the conditions which make us happy could be prolonged for ever, habit would deprive us of all taste for that happiness.  If external circumstances remain unchanged, the heart changes; either happiness forsakes us, or we forsake her.

“During your infatuation time has passed unheeded.  Summer is over, winter is at hand.  Even if our expeditions were possible, at such a time of year they would not be permitted.  Whether we wish it or no, we shall have to change our way of life; it cannot continue.  I read in your eager eyes that this does not disturb you greatly; Sophy’s confession and your own wishes suggest a simple plan for avoiding the snow and escaping the journey.  The plan has its advantages, no doubt; but when spring returns, the snow will melt and the marriage will remain; you must reckon for all seasons.

“You wish to marry Sophy and you have only known her five months!  You wish to marry her, not because she is a fit wife for you, but because she pleases you; as if love were never mistaken as to fitness, as if those, who begin with love, never ended with hatred!  I know she is virtuous; but is that enough?  Is fitness merely a matter of honour?  It is not her virtue I misdoubt, it is her disposition.  Does a woman show her real character in a day?  Do you know how often you must have seen her and under what varying conditions to really know her temper?  Is four months of liking a sufficient pledge for the rest of your life?  A couple of months hence you may have forgotten her; as soon as you are gone another may efface your image in her heart; on your return you may find her as indifferent as you have hitherto found her affectionate.  Sentiments are not a matter of principle; she may be perfectly virtuous and yet cease to love you.  I am inclined to think she will be faithful and true; but who will answer for her, and who will answer for you if you are not put to the proof?  Will you postpone this trial till it is too late, will you wait to know your true selves till parting is no longer possible?

“Sophy is not eighteen, and you are barely twenty-two; this is the age for love, but not for marriage.  What a father and mother for a family!  If you want to know how to bring up children, you should at least wait till you yourselves are children no longer.  Do you not know that too early motherhood has weakened the constitution, destroyed the health, and shortened the life of many young women?  Do you not know that many children have always been weak and sickly because their mother was little more than a child herself?  When mother and child are both growing, the strength required for their growth is divided, and neither gets all that nature intended; are not both sure to suffer?  Either I know very little of Emile, or he would rather wait and have a healthy wife and children, than satisfy his impatience at the price of their life and health.