I swear to you gentlemen, that to be overly conscious is a sickness, a real, thorough sickness.

Besides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.

To love is to suffer and there can be no love otherwise.

Gambling is a most foolish and imprudent pursuit.

Reason is the slave of passion.

If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.

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.