The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author's life.

Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.

Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment.

No one can be profoundly original who does not avoid eccentricity.

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.

Experience is valuable only when it has brought suffering and when the suffering has left its mark upon both body and mind.

If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.