Je puis nier une chose sans me croire obligé de la salir ou de retirer aux autres le droit d'y croire.

Truth is not a virtue, but a passion. It is never charitable.

An intense feeling carries with it its own universe, magnificent or wretched as the case may be.

Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness. Those who have greatness within them do not go in for politics.

For those of us who have been thrown into hell, mysterious melodies and the torturing images of a vanished beauty will always bring us, in the midst of crime and folly, the echo of that harmonious insurrection which bears witness, throughout the centuries, to the greatness of humanity.

No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people.

Men like us are good and proud and strong...if we had a faith, a God, nothing could undermine us. But we had nothing, we had to learn everything, and living for honor alone has its weaknesses.