...Any authentic creation is a gift to the future.

Martyrs, my friend, have to choose between being forgotten, mocked or used. As for being understood - never.

But, you know, I feel more fellowship with the defeated than with saints. Heroism and sanctity don't really appeal to me, I imagine. What interests me is being a man.

To think is first of all to create a world (or to limit one's own world, which comes to the same thing).

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.

And real nobility (that of the heart) is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference.

If absolute truth belongs to anyone in this world, it certainly does not belong to the man or party that claims to possess it.