Hell, madame, is to love no longer.

Justice in the hands of the powerful is merely a governing system like any other. Why call it justice?

A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.

God! how is it that we fail to recognize that the mask of pleasure, stripped of all hypocrisy, is that of anguish?

I know the compassion of others is a relief at first. I don't despise it. But it can't quench pain, it slips through your soul as through a sieve. And when our suffering has been dragged from one pity to another, as from one mouth to another, we can no longer respect or love it.

It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.