The shame love causes is like its pain; we only feel it once. We may feign it afterwards, but we do not feel it. However, the pleasure remains, and that is indeed something.
La honte que cause l’amour est comme sa douleur: on ne l’éprouve qu’une fois. On peut encore la feindre après; mais on ne la sent plus. Cependant le plaisir reste, et c’est bien quelque chose.
Original text (French)
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Notes from Wikiquote
Letter 105: La Marquise de Merteuil to Cécile Volanges. Trans. Richard Aldington (1924).