My greatest wish is to write in such a manner that all may think they have written it themselves.

My greatest wish is to write in such a manner that all may think they have written it themselves.

Friendship based solely upon gratitude is like a photograph; with time it fades.

Never can a room look comfortable without books ... Books ought to be scattered all over the house, even in the passages, in the bedroom, les livres du chevet, everywhere.

[Written in 1901:] Nothing has been so deplorable for countries as centralization. I am afraid when I see Germany grow so powerful, and centralizing in Berlin; it is the beginning of the end!

You can never make someone punctual who is not, or quick who is slow, or lively who wants to plod on carefully. I have learnt that every fault is an exaggerated quality, nothing else.

Those who look for reasons to hate miss opportunities to love.