“I do not believe it is in our nature to love impartially. We deceive ourselves when we think we can love two beings, even our own children, equally. There is always a dominant affection.”

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

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Napoleon I of France259

French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French 1769–1821

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“We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love — first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.”

Albert Camus book A Happy Death

Nous nous trompons toujours deux fois sur ceux que nous aimons: d'abord à leur avantage, puis à leur désavantage.
A Happy Death (written 1938), first published as La mort heureuse (1971), as translated by Richard Howard (1972)
Variant: He discovered the cruel paradox by which we always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love — first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.