cherish his existence, no longer than life holds out charms to him; when
he is wrought upon by painful sensations, or drawn by contrary
impulsions, his natural tendency is deranged, he is under the necessity
to follow a new route; this conducts him to his end, which it even
displays to him as the most desirable good. In this manner may be
explained, the conduct of those melancholy beings, whose vicious
temperaments, whose tortured consciences, whose chagrin, whose _ennui_,
sometimes determine them to renounce life.

The various powers, frequently very complicated, that act either
successively or simultaneously upon the brain of man, which modify him
so diversely in the different periods of his existence, are the true
causes of that obscurity in morals, of that difficulty which is found,
when it is desired to unravel the concealed springs of his enigmatical
conduct. The heart of man is a labyrinth, only because it very rarely
happens that we possess the necessary gift of judging it; from whence it
will appear, that his circumstances, his indecision, his conduct,
whether ridiculous, or unexpected, are the necessary consequences of the
changes operated in him; are nothing but the effect of motives that
successively determine his will; which are dependent on the frequent
variations experienced by his machine. According to these variations,
the same motives have not, always, the same influence over his will, the
same objects no longer enjoy the faculty of pleasing him; his
temperament has changed, either for the moment, or for ever. It follows
as a consequence, that his taste, his desires, his passions, will
change; there can be no kind of uniformity in his conduct, nor any
certitude in the effects to be expected.

Choice by no means proves the free-agency of man; he only deliberates
when he does not yet know which to choose of the many objects that move