Nature is not without God nor is God without nature. Both are the same
and their functions are the same. So, too, nature, destiny, fortune, are
all the names of the same God.
It is the mark of a noble and generous soul to be helpful, to do good;
he who confers favors, imitates the gods.
Beneficence always makes haste; what one does willingly one does
quickly.
We owe no thanks for a favor that has for a long time adhered to the
hands of the giver, as it were; which he seems to have let go with
reluctance and which one might almost say had been wrested from him.
Those favors are most gratifying to us that are deliberately and
willingly offered, and in connection with which the only hesitancy is on
the part of the recipient.