The Secret of Health

A man of eighty went to the doctor and asked him to examine his body thoroughly. When the doctor had performed his task with all care and precision, he said to his patient:

"Your health is very good, and every organ of the body is performing its functions in perfect order despite your advanced age. Will you tell me frankly the secret of your remaining in this condition?"

The man answered: "The matter is utterly simple. When I married, more than fifty years ago, I agreed with my wife that she should keep silent whenever anger took hold of me or a fit of temper came over me, and that I should leave the house whenever she was exposed to the like.

Thus, through these long years, I have been able to enjoy a domestic happiness which has, without doubt, done the great service to my health that you now see."

• A woman may be angry if you kiss her when she does not want to be kissed, but her anger is fiercer if you refrain from kissing her when she wants it. "La Bruyère"

• A woman would rather lose her lover than lose her beauty, for it is easier for her to lose the one she loves than to lose what he loves in her! "Rocheron"

• A man may forsake everything for the woman he loves, and may go mad for the woman he longs to draw to him; but he will not stir a finger for the one of whose love he is sure. "Schopenhauer"