You must have a love, a great love, to ensure an alibi at unjustified despairs that conquer all of us

Old women even forget how to love their sons. The heart gets worn out, Monsieur.

Thus I progressed on the surface of life, in the realm of words as it were, never in reality. All those books barely read, those friends barely loved, those cities barely visited, those women barely possessed! I went through the gestures out of boredom or absent-mindedness. Then came human beings; they wanted to cling, but there was nothing to cling to, and that was unfortunate--for them. As for me, I forgot. I never remembered anything but myself.

[Paris] is dirty. It has pigeons and black yards. The people have white skin.

When I was young I asked more of people than they could give: everlasting friendship, endless feeling. Now I know to ask less of them than they can give: a straightforward companionship. And their feelings, their friendship, their generous actions seem in my eyes to be wholly miraculous: a consequence of grace alone.

stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves

We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking.