Each victim of suicide gives his act a personal stamp which expresses his temperament, the special conditions in which he is involved, and which, consequently, cannot be explained by the social and general causes of the phenomenon.

There is no sociology worthy of the name which does not possess a historical character.

To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness.

It is too great comfort which turns a man against himself. Life is most readily renounced at the time and among the classes where it is least harsh.

I can be free only to the extent that others are forbidden to profit from their physical, economic, or other superiority to the detriment of my liberty.

When man discovered the mirror, he began to lose his soul.

Our excessive tolerance with regard to suicide is due to the fact that, since the state of mind from which it springs is a general one, we cannot condemn it without condemning ourselves; we are too saturated with it not partly to excuse it.