Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.

The impulse to cruelty is, in many people, almost as violent as the impulse to sexual love - almost as violent and much more mischievous.

Now, a corpse, poor thing, is an untouchable and the process of decay is, of all pieces of bad manners, the vulgarest imaginable. For a corpse is, by definition, a person absolutely devoid of savoir vivre.

To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.

Can you say something about nothing?

Only times and places, only names and ghosts.

If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.