In every guilty man, there is some innocence. This makes every absolute condemnation revolting.

A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.

Rebellion cannot exist without the feeling that somewhere, in some way, you are justified.

The best revenge you can have on intellectuals is to be madly happy.

Freedom is not a reward or a decoration that you toast in champagne. On the contrary, it's hard graft and a long-distance run, all alone, very exhausting. Alone in a dreary room, alone in the dock before the judges, and alone to make up your mind, before yourself and before the judgement of others. At the end of every freedom there is a sentence, which is why freedom is too heavy to bear.

...we rarely confide in those who are better than we. Rather, we are more inclined to flee their society. Most often, on the other hand, we confess to those who are like us and who share our weaknesses. Hence we don't want to improve ourselves and be bettered, for we should first have to be judged in default. We merely wish to be pitied and encouraged in the course we have chosen. In short, we should like, at the same time, to cease being guilty and yet not to make the effort of cleansing ourselves.

When I look at my life and its secret colors, I feel like bursting into tears.