Experience is always a trustworthy guide; it may not tell you everything, but it never lies.

To be made evident, truth must be sought for; for of itself it is slow to appear, and between ourselves and God the obstacles are so many!

Life is a slate where all our sins are written; from time to time we rub the sponge of repentance over it so we can begin sinning again.

You don't have to write to me if you don't feel like it. There's no real friendship without absolute freedom.

Art belongs to all times and to all countries; its special benefit is precisely to be still living when everything else seems dying; that is why Providence shields it from too personal or too general passions, and grants it a patient and persevering organization, durable sensibility, and the contemplative sense in which lies invincible faith.

nature has not changed. The night is still unsullied, the stars still twinkle, and the wild thyme smells as sweetly now as it did then ... We may be afflicted and unhappy, but no one can take from us the sweet delight which is nature's gift to those who love her and her poetry.

Travelling is like a novel: it's what happens that counts.