Doubt is nothing but a trivial agitation on the surface of the soul, while deep down there is a calm certainty.

I believe that only poetry counts ... A great novelist is first of all a great poet.

Let us be wary of ready-made ideas about cowardice and courage: the same burden weighs infinitely more heavily on some shoulders than on others.

If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads.

Men resemble great deserted palaces: the owner occupies only a few rooms and has closed-off wings where he never ventures.

The grandeur of man lies in song, not in thought.

God does not answer our desperate questionings; he simply gives us himself.