I often wonder: suppose we could begin life over again, knowing what we were doing? Suppose we could use one life, already ended, as a sort of rough draft for another? I think that every one of us would try, more than anything else, not to repeat himself, at the very least he would rearrange his manner of life, he would make sure of rooms like these, with flowers and light ... I have a wife and two daughters, my wife's health is delicate and so on and so on, and if I had to begin life all over again I would not marry. ... No, no!

Faith is a capacity of the spirit. It is like talent: you have to be born with it

A man wants nothing so badly as a gooseberry farm.

Better a debauched canary than a pious wolf.

In a century or two, or in a millennium, people will live in a new way, a happier way. We won"t be there to see it - but it"s why we live, why we work. It"s why we suffer. We"re creating it. That"s the purpose of our existence. The only happiness we can know is to work toward that goal.

In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations!

Fine. Since the tea is not forthcoming, let's have a philosophical conversation.