There is not a thing that is more positive than bread.

A true friend of mankind whose heart has but once quivered in compassion over the sufferings of the people, will understand and forgive all the impassable alluvial filth in which they are submerged, and will be able to discover the diamonds in the filth.

To a commonplace man of limited intellect, for instance, nothing is simpler than to imagine himself an original character, and to revel in that belief without the slightest misgiving.

What terrible tragedies realism inflicts on people.

The whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano key.

Nothing is more seductive for a man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.

It's a burden to us even to be human beings-men with our own real body and blood; we are ashamed of it, we think it a disgrace and try to contrive to be some sort of impossible generalized man.