Marcel Proust. Under the shadow of young girls in flower (№ 96496)

There is no such a wise man - he said, - who in his youth did not say such or even would not have done such things, the memory of which would be distasteful to him and which he wished to erase from his life. But he will not necessarily regret it, for he could not be sure that you would have attained wisdom, in so far as it is possible, if not passed through a number of absurd or disgusting incarnations before this latest incarnation. Know that there are young men, sons and grandsons of prominent people who are their mentors in school have inspired the nobility of mind and moral comeliness. Maybe they have nothing to erase from his life, they could make and sign everything they said, but it's a pathetic minds, impotent descendants doctrinaire, and their wisdom is negative and sterile. Wisdom cannot be obtained ready, it opens itself, going a path that no one can get it for you, from which no one can save you, because wisdom is your perspective on things.