Just as a waterfall grows slower and more lightly suspended as it plunges down, so the great man of action tends to act with greater calmness than his tempestuous desires prior to the deed would lead one to expect.

He who seeks intelligence lacks intelligence.

Even the most honest writer lets slip a word too many when he wants to round off a period.

The real world is much smaller than the imaginary

When self control is lacking in small things, the ability to apply it to matters of importance withers away. Every day in which one does not at least deny himself some trifle is badly spent and a threat to the day following.

The discipline of suffering, of great suffering - do you not know that it is this discipline alone that has produced all the elevations of humanity so far?

I need solitude, which is to say, recovery, return to my self, the breath of a free, light, playful air.