Under peaceful conditions a warlike man sets upon himself.

The moment Germany rises as a great power, France gains a new importance as a cultural power.

Sins are indispensable to every society organized on an ecclesiastical basis; they are the only reliable weapons of power; the priest lives upon sins; it is necessary to him that there be sinning.

Possessions are usually diminished by possession.

A vocation is the backbone of life.

The happiness of man is: I will. The happiness of woman is: he wills. 'Behold , just now the world ... entire love. And woman must obey and find a depth for her surface. Surface is the disposition of woman: a mobile, stormy film over shallow water. Man's disposition, however, is deep; his river roars in subterranean caves: woman feels his strength but does not comprehend it.

This is the hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.