Europe has lived on its contradictions, flourished on its differences, and, constantly transcending itself thereby, has created a civilization on which the whole world depends even when rejecting it. This is why I do not believe in a Europe unified under the weight of an ideology or of a technocracy that overlooked these differences.

Freedom is not a reward or a decoration that is celebrated with champagne...Oh no! It's a...long distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting.

My chief occupation, despite appearances, has always been love.

What the world requires of the Christians is that they should continue to be Christians.

As a remedy to life in society I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means.

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

In normal times all of us know, whether consciously or not, that there is no love which can't be bettered; nevertheless, we reconcile ourselves more or less easily to the fact that ours has never risen above the average.