No one ever discovers the depths of his own loneliness.

A poor man with nothing in his belly needs hope, illusion, more than bread.

Optimism approves of everything, submits to everything, believes everything; it is the virtue above all of the taxpayer.

Purity is not imposed upon us as though it were a kind of punishment, it is one of those mysterious but obvious conditions of that supernatural knowledge of ourselves in the Divine, which we speak of as faith. Impurity does not destroy this knowledge, it slays our need for it.

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.

But I shall give less thought to the future, I shall work in the present. I feel such work is within my power. For I only succeed in small things, and when I am tried by anxiety, I am bound to say it is the small joys that release me.

To be able to share in another's joy, that is the secret of happiness.