Literature ... is the rediscovery of childhood.

How cruel my suffering is,—no one is more talkative than I am!

The sacred demands the violation of what is normally the object of terrified respect.

To choose evil is to choose freedom, emancipation from all restraint.

The sovereign being is burdened with a servitude that crushes him, and the condition of free men is deliberate servility.

I enjoyed the innocence of unhappiness and of helplessness; could I blame myself for a sin which attracted me, which flooded me with pleasure precisely to the extent it brought me to despair?

Incredible nervous state, trepidation beyond words: to be this much in love is to be sick (and I love to be sick).