A writer should not so much write as embroider on paper; the work should be painstaking, laborious.

Love is a great thing. It is not by chance that in all times and practically among all cultured peoples love in the general senseand the love of a man for his wife are both called love. If love is often cruel or destructive, the reasons lie not in love itself, but in the inequality between people.

Dear, sweet, unforgettable childhood!

If an intelligent, educated, and healthy man begins to complain of his lot and go down-hill, there is nothing for him to do but to go on down until he reaches the bottom--there is no hope for him. Where could my salvation come from? How can I save myself? I cannot drink, because it makes my head ache. I never could write bad poetry. I cannot pray for strength and see anything lofty in the languor of my soul. Laziness is laziness and weakness weakness. I can find no other names for them. I am lost, I am lost; there is no doubt of that.

To harbor spiteful feelings against ordinary people for not being heroes is possible only for narrow-minded or embittered man.

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

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.