At the age of 40, having ordered meat very rare in restaurants all his life, he realized he actually liked it medium and not at all rare.

One cannot be a part-time nihilist.

One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it.

In art, rebellion is consummated and perpetuated in the act of real creation, not in criticism or commentary.

There is not one talent for living and another for creating. The same suffices for both. And one can be sure that the talent that could not produce but an artificial work could not sustain but a frivolous life.

Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world; yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky.

After a short silence the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Tarrou had an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace. "Yes, he replied. "The path of sympathy.