Qu'elle est admirable la jeunesse de l'homme ! Elle est toute d'angoisse et de féeries, et il n'arrive jamais à la connaître sous son vrai jour, que lorsqu'elle l'a quitté pour toujours.
Au fil du temps
Contexte et précisions
En anglais : "Man's youth is a wonderful thing: it is so full of anguish and of magic and he never comes to know it as it is, until it has gone from him forever. It is the thing he cannot bear to lose, it is the thing whose passing he watches with infinite sorrow and regret, it is the thing whose loss he must lament forever, and it is the thing whose loss he really welcomes with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, could it be restored to him by any magic."