The individual never asserts himself more than when he forgets himself.

Chastity more rarely follows fear, or a resolution, or a vow, than it is the mere effect of lack of appetite and, sometimes even, of distaste.

Understand that the only possession of any value is life.

Other people's appetites easily appear excessive when one doesn't share them.

Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves!

If one could recover the uncompromising spirit of one's youth, one's greatest indignation would be for what one has become.

The loveliest creations of men are persistently painful. What would be the description of happiness? Nothing, except what prepares and then what destroys it.