I've never been in love. I've dreamt of it day and night, but my heart is like a fine piano no one can play because the key is lost.

My mother and father are the only people on the whole planet for whom I will never begrudge a thing. Should I achieve great things, it is the work of their hands; they are splendid people and their absolute love of their children places them above the highest praise. It cloaks all of their shortcomings, shortcomings that may have resulted from a difficult life.

After us they'll fly in hot air balloons, coat styles will change, perhaps they'll discover a sixth sense and cultivate it, but life will remain the same, a hard life full of secrets, but happy. And a thousand years from now man will still be sighing, "Oh! Life is so hard!" and will still, like now, be afraid of death and not want to die.

If you ever have need of my life, come and take it.

It's easier to write about Socrates than about a young woman or a cook.

It's better to live down a scandal than to ruin one's life.

The happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burden in silence. Without this silence, happiness would be impossible.