In order to judge properly, one must get away somewhat from what one is judging, after having loved it. This is true of countries, of persons, and of oneself.

What eludes logic is the most precious element in us, and one can draw nothing from a syllogism that the mind has not put there in advance.

If the flower were not attached to its stem, it would flee at the approach of man, like the insect or the bird; for the attribute of man on the earth, at least as long as he does not better understand his role, is to worry and frighten what he is not interested in taming for utilitarian purposes. Man is skillful in mistreating everything he can use

Prejudices are the props of civilization.

You have to let other people be right' was his answer to their insults. 'It consoles them for not being anything else.

What seems different in yourself; that's the rare thing you possess. The one thing that gives each of us his worth, and that's just what we try to suppress. And we claim to love life.

The public always prefers to be reassured. There are those whose job this is. There are only too many.