
L'absence diminue les médiocres passions, et augmente les grandes, comme le vent éteint les bougies et allume le feu.
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Variant translation: Absence weakens the minor passions and adds to the effects of great ones, as the wind blows out a candle and fans a fire.
Maxim 276.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)