Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.

It is not true that the heart wears out - but the body creates this illusion.

Wandering seemed no more than the happiness of an anxious man.

People don't love each other at our age, Marthe—they please each other, that's all. Later on, when you're old and impotent, you can love someone. At our age, you just think you do. That's all it is.

If the only significant history of human thought were to be written, it would have to be the history of its successive regrets and its impotences.

The mistake that men make is that they do not believe in theater. Otherwise, they would know that every man is allowed to play thecelestial tragedies and to become god. All he has to do is harden his heart.

Alas, after a certain age every man is responsible for his face.