Fear, true fear, is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable, it is surely the cruelest. There is naught to equal its drive, and naught can survive its thrust.

Civilization exists precisely so that there may be no masses but rather men alert enough never to constitute masses.

What does it matter, all is grace.

What does the truth matter? Haven't we mothers all given our sons a taste for lies, lies which from the cradle upwards lull them, reassure them, send them to sleep: lies as soft and warm as a breast!

No one ever discovers the depths of his own loneliness.

Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air.

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