Were we to undertake an exhaustive self-scrutiny, disgust would paralyze us, we would be doomed to a thankless existence.

Knowledge subverts love: in proportion as we penetrate our secrets, we come to loathe our kind, precisely because they resemble us.

No one should forget: Eros alone can fulfill life; knowledge, never. Only Eros makes sense; knowledge is empty infinity; – for thoughts, there is always time; life has its time; there is no thought that comes too late; any desire can become a regret.

If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot.

Democracy: a festival of mediocrity.

If we manage to last in spite of everything, it is because our infirmities are so many and so contradictory that they cancel each other out.

To exist is a habit I do not despair of acquiring.