I have not the hope of being immortal, because the desire of it has not given me that vanity.

First move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.

There comes a moment during which almost every girl or boy falls into melancholy; they are tormented by a vague inquietude which rests on everything and finds nothing to calm it. They seek solitude; they weep; the silence to be found in cloister attracts them: the image of peace that seems to reign in religious houses seduces them. They mistake the first manifestations of a developing sexual nature for the voice of God calling them to Himself; and it is precisely when nature is inciting them that they embrace a fashion of life contrary to nature's wish.

Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.' This stranger is a theologian.

If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.

Integrity is the evidence of all civil virtues.

Only God and some few rare geniuses can keep forging ahead into novelty.