"<p></p> <p>It's also amazing how sensitive people are. Like a rose. Like a rock jasmine. They listen so fatefully to every word that might offend their vanity, like no one and nothing in the world of the living. A single utterance can wound a man to death, yea, your very silence, when he expects you to praise or approve him: it turns a man into your enemy for ever. And these same people, who sense everything about themselves with such a fearfully delicate ear, who can sense the intimacy of a handshake or the tone of a telephone conversation, the flash of opinion or truth that flashes towards them, these same people, more gentle and sensitive than a mimosa, follow the most vile vices with a carefree attitude, cruel without blinking, indifferent and sometimes cheerful. This resilience of the human soul is not worth criticising; it is just something to be aware of. And not to be surprised at anything, ever.</p>"