Je tiens a'   mon imperfection comme a'   ma raison d'e"  tre. I hold on to my imperfection as tightly as my reason for being.

-Thibault
  Le Jardin d'Epicure.

Either still I find Some imperfection in the chosen theme, Or see of absolute accomplishment Much wanting, so much wanting, in myself, That I recoil and droop, and seek repose In listlessness from vain perplexity, Unprofitably travelling towards the grave.

-Wordsworth,William
^1805  The Prelude, bk.1, l.261^7 (published1850).