I am tired of myself in every way. All things, deep down to the secret of their roots, are stained by the color of my weariness.

To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you. Be whole in everything. Put all you are Into the smallest thing you do. So, in each lake, the moon shines with splendor Because it blooms up above.

To have opinions is to sell out to youself. To have no opinions is to exist. To have every opinion is to be a poet.

pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.

What's given, in fact, always depends on the person or thing it's given to. A minor incident in the street brings the cook to the door and entertains him more than I would be entertained by contemplating the most original idea, by reading the greatest book, or by having the most gratifying of useless dreams. If life is basically monotony, he has escaped it more than I. And he escapes it more easily than I. The truth isn't with him or with me, because it isn't with anyone, but happiness does belong to him.

Life is full of paradoxes, as roses are of thorns.

Art gives us the illusion of liberation from the sordid business of being.