The bad novelist constructs his characters; he directs them and makes them speak. The true novelist listens to them and watches them act; he hears their voices even before he knows them.

Wisdom comes not from reason but from love.

The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.

The capacity to get free is nothing; the capacity to be free is the task.

A man thinks he owns things, and it is he who is owned

The young people who come to me in the hope of hearing me utter a few memorable maxims are quite disappointed. Aphorisms are not my forte, I say nothing but banalities.... I listen to them and they go away delighted.

Whoever starts out toward the unknown must consent to venture alone.