“There is no worse sickness for the soul,
O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.”

Letter to Fanny Knight (1816-03-23) [Letters of Jane Austen -- Brabourne Edition]
Letters
Context: He and I should not in the least agree, of course, in our ideas of novels and heroines. Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked; but there is some very good sense in what he says, and I particularly respect him for wishing to think well of all young ladies; it shows an amiable and a delicate mind. And he deserves better treatment than to be obliged to read any more of my works.

In the Depths http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/C/CloughArthurHugh/verse/poemsproseremains/depths.html, st. 3.

Emmy, st. 6.

Section 124
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
Context: The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.

Poems and Ballads (1866-89), The Triumph of Time
Context: p>I had grown pure as the dawn and the dew,
You had grown strong as the sun or the sea.
But none shall triumph a whole life through:
For death is one, and the fates are three.
At the door of life, by the gate of breath,
There are worse things waiting for men than death;
Death could not sever my soul and you,
As these have severed your soul from me.You have chosen and clung to the chance they sent you,
Life sweet as perfume and pure as prayer.
But will it not one day in heaven repent you?
Will they solace you wholly, the days that were?
Will you lift up your eyes between sadness and bliss,
Meet mine, and see where the great love is,
And tremble and turn and be changed? Content you;
The gate is strait; I shall not be there.</p

Falsehood in Wartime (1928), Introduction
Context: In calm retrospect we can appreciate better the disastrous effects of the poison of falsehood, whether officially, semi-officially, or privately manufactured. It has been rightly said that the injection of the poison of hatred into men's minds by means of falsehood is a greater evil in war-time than the actual loss of life. The defilement of the human soul is worse than the destruction of the human body. A fuller realization of this is essential.

1870 https://attackingthedevil.co.uk/related/lovers.php

O saisons, ô châteaux,
Quelle âme est sans défauts ?
Bonheur http://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/Happiness.html (Happiness)

2001-09-26
A Word a Day -- Say, 'Gasconade' -- Keeps Boredom at Bay
Susan G. Hauser
The Wall Street Journal