I loved [fairy stories] so, and my mother weighed down by grief had given up telling me them. At Nohant I found Mmes. d'Ardony's and Perrault's tales in old editions which became my chief joy for five or six years ... I've never read them since, but I could tell each tale straight through, and I don't think anything in all one's intellecutal life can be compared to these delights of imagination.

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

When I tried to draw near, you dissolved into air before my lips could touch you...

When mental sickness increases until it reaches the danger point, do not exhaust yourself by efforts to trace back to original causes. Better accept them as inevitable and save your strength to fight against the effects.

Years do not always make age.

I have no enthusiasm for nature which the slightest chill will not instantly destroy.

The most honest of men is the one who thinks and acts best, but the most powerful is the one who writes and speaks best.