It has been remarked that most men are in the course of
their lives frequently unlike themselves, and seem to be transformed
into others very different from what they were. It was not to
establish a thing so generally known that I wished to write a book;
I had a newer and more important object. This was to search for the
causes of these variations, and, by confining my observations to those
which depend on ourselves, to demonstrate in what manner it might be
possible to direct them, in order to render us better and more certain
of our dispositions. For it is undoubtedly more painful to an honest
man to resist desires already formed, and which it is his duty to
subdue, than to prevent, change, or modify the same desires in their
source, were he capable of tracing them to it. A man under
temptation resists once because he has strength of mind, he yields
another time because this is overcome; had it been the same as
before he would again have triumphed.
By examining within myself, and searching in others what could be
the cause of these different manners of being, I discovered that, in a
great measure they depended on the anterior impression of external
objects; and that, continually modified by our senses and organs,
we, without knowing it, bore in our ideas, sentiments, and even
actions, the effect of these modifications. The striking and
numerous observations I had collected were beyond all manner of
dispute, and by their natural principle seemed proper to furnish and
exterior regimen, which, varied according to circumstances, might
place and support the mind in the state most favorable to virtue.
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