A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.

Our minds have unbelievable power over our bodies.

Business is a combination of war and sport.

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.

[...] marriage is one thing, and love is another...You need to have a solid canvas; nobody stops you to weave the arabesques.

To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form.