We don't have the time to completely be ourselves. We only have the room to be happy.

He had been bored, that's all, bored like most people. Hence he had made himself out of whole cloth a life full of complications and drama. Something must happen - and that explains most human commitments. Something must happen, even loveless slavery, even war or death. Hurray then for funerals!

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

the one who doesnt play, doesnt win anything, but he actually looses somehting, {playing}

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

...we rarely confide in those who are better than we. Rather, we are more inclined to flee their society. Most often, on the other hand, we confess to those who are like us and who share our weaknesses. Hence we don't want to improve ourselves and be bettered, for we should first have to be judged in default. We merely wish to be pitied and encouraged in the course we have chosen. In short, we should like, at the same time, to cease being guilty and yet not to make the effort of cleansing ourselves.

At times I feel myself overtaken by an immense tenderness for these people around me who live in the same century.