The heart is a faculty of which we despoil ourselves every day by giving it no exercise, while the mind is continually sharpened and refined. We become more and more intellectual. ... I predict that this realm will persih from the extinction of the faculties that derive from the heart, We have no more friends; we no longer love our mistresses; how shall we love our country? ... Men lose daily some part of that fine quality which we call sensibility. Love, and the need to love, disappear. ... Calculations of interest absorb us continually; everything is a commerce of intrigue. ... The interior fire goes out for lack of nourishment; a paralysis creeps over the heart.
Marquis d'Argenson