Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.

And only now, when he was gray-haired, had he fallen in love properly, thoroughly, for the first time in his life.

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths.

In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings it is the other way round: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar.

I confess I seldom commune with my conscience when I write.

The sea has neither meaning nor pity.

The problem is that we attempt to solve the simplest questions cleverly, thereby rendering them unusually complex. One should seekthe simple solution.