There are people who prefer to look their fate in the eye

What would become of the world if the condemned started to confide their heartaches to the executioners?

The rebel can never find peace. He knows what is good and, despite himself, does evil. The value which supports him is never given to him once and for all - he must fight to uphold it, unceasingly.

The slave and those whose present life is miserable and who can find no consolation in the heavens are assured that at least the future belongs to them. The future is the only kind of property that the masters willingly concede to the slaves.

We must learn how to lend ourselves to dreaming when dreams lend themselves to us.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

No excuses ever, for anyone; that is my principle at the outset. I deny the good intention, the respectable mistake, the indiscretion, the extenuating circumstance. With me there is no giving of absolution or blessing.