To two men living the same number of years, the world always provides the same sum of experiences. It is up to us to be conscious of them.

History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.

The nobility of our calling will always be rooted in two commitments difficult to observe: refusal to lie about what we know, and resistance to oppression.

By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

Where there is no hope, we must invent it.

I feel like getting married, or committing suicide, or subscribing to L'Illustration. Something desperate, you know.

There was a time when I didn’t at any minute have the slightest idea how I could reach the next one. Yes, one can wage war in this world, ape love, torture one’s fellow man, or merely say evil of one’s neighbour while knitting. But, in certain cases, carrying on, merely continuing, is superhuman.