This
will especially be the case if he should have sense sufficient to
allow you to guide him in important matters." Say also: "I hope you
will not have the romantic folly to wait for what the French call
'une grande passion.' My good girl, 'une grande passion' is 'une
grande folie.' Mediocrity in all things is wisdom; mediocrity in the
sensations is superlative wisdom." Say to her: "When you are as old
as I am (I am sixty at least, being your grandmother), you will find
that the majority of those worldly precepts, whose seeming coldness
shocks and repels us in youth, are founded in wisdom."
'No girl should fall in love till the offer is actually made. This
maxim is just. I will even extend and confirm it: No young lady
should fall in love till the offer has been made, accepted, the
marriage ceremony performed, and the first half-year of wedded life
has passed away. A woman may then begin to love, but with great
precaution, very coolly, very moderately, very rationally. If she
ever loves so much that a harsh word or a cold look cuts her to the
heart she is a fool. If she ever loves so much that her husband's
will is her law, and that she has got into a habit of watching his
looks in order that she may anticipate his wishes, she will soon be a
neglected fool.
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