I see upon their noble brows the seal of the Lord, for they were born kings of the earth far more truly than those who possess it only from having bought it.

... love is too delicate a flower to rise again when one has trampled it under foot.

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.

The beauty that addresses itself to the eyes is only the spell of the moment; the eye of the body is not always that of the soul.

we do not die of anguish, we live on. We continue to suffer. We drink the cup drop by drop.

Love without reverence and enthusiasm is only friendship.

Life resembles a novel more often than novels resemble life.