The temptation shared by all forms of intelligence: cynicism.

My life was lucky so that I met, I loved (and disappointed) only outstanding people.

In short, they were gambling on their luck, and luck is not to be coerced.

The first concern of any dictatorship is, consequently, to subjugate both labor and culture.

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!

Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one's consciousness, making of every image a privileged place.

You know, a man always judges himself by the balance he can strike between the needs of his body and the demands of his mind. You're judging yourself now, Mersaut, and you don't like the sentence.