r bad?
However, in the first place, tell me what you mean by a bad heart."

"Indeed, I do not know what is meant by it, ma'am; but it is something
which every body hates."

"And why do they hate it?"

"Because they think that it will hurt them, ma'am, I believe; and that
those who have bad hearts take delight in doing mischief; and that they
never do any body good but for their own ends."

"Then the best definition which you can give me of a bad heart is that
it is some constant propensity to hurt others, and to do wrong for the
sake of doing wrong."

"Yes, ma'am, but that is not all neither; there is still something else
meant; something which I cannot express--which, indeed, I never
distinctly understood; but of which, therefore, I was the more afraid."

"Well, then, to begin with what you do understand, tell me, Cecilia, do
you really think it possible to be wicked merely for the love of
wickedness? No human being becomes wicked all at once; a man begins by
doing wrong because it is, or because he thinks it is for his interest;
if he continue to do so, he must conquer his sense of shame, and lose
his love of virtue. But how can you, Cecilia, who feel such a strong
sense of shame, and such an eager desire to improve, imagine that you
have a bad heart?"

"Indeed, madam, I never did, until every body told me so, and then I
began to be frightened about it. This very evening, ma'am, when I was
in a passion, I threw little Louisa's strawberries away; which, I am
sure, I was very sorry for afterwards; and Leonora and every body cried
out that I had a bad heart; but I am sure that I was only in a passion."

"Very likely. And when you are in a passion, as you call it, Cecilia,
you see that you are tempted to do harm to others; if they do not feel
angry themselves, they do not sympathize with you; they do not perceive
the motive which actuates you, and then they say that you have a bad
heart. I dare say, however, when your passion is over, and when you
recollect yourself, you are very sorry for what you have done and said;
are not you?"

"Yes, indeed, madam, very sorry."

"Then make that sorrow of use to you, Cecilia, and fix it steadily in
your thoughts, as you hope to be good and happy, that, if you suffer
yourself to yield to your passion upon every trifling occasion, anger
and its consequences will become familiar to your mind; and in the same
proportion your sense of shame will be weakened, till what you began