And you can always, always, give kindness

I... keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if... if only there were no other people in the world.

Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.

I'm sentimental--I know. I'm desperate and silly--I know that too. Oh, help me!

If the truth is told, things are just as bad as you yourself care to make them.

I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me. I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear; my courage is reborn. But, and that is the great question, will I ever be able to write anything great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?

Ordinary people don't know how much books can mean to someone who's cooped up.