Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze.

There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematician that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one.

Most Americans ... have a sort of permanent intoxication from within, a sort of invisible champagne.

I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.

To be simple is the best thing in the world.

My life is passed in making bad jokes and seeing them turn into true prophecies.

Real development is not leaving things behind, as on a road, but drawing life from them, as from a root.