It seems to me that I have always existed and that I possess memories that date back to the Pharaohs.

Doesn't it seem to you," asked Madame Bovary, "that the mind moves more freely in the presence of that boundless expanse, that the sight of it elevates the soul and gives rise to thoughts of the infinite and the ideal?

Abstraction can provide stumbling blocks for people of strange intelligence.

Casting aspersions on those we love always does something to loosen our ties. We shouldn't maltreat our idols: the gilt comes off on our hands.

There comes a point at which you stop writing and think all the more

You'll always have to deal with bastards, being lied to, deceived, slandered and ridiculed, but that's to be expected and you must thank heaven when you meet the exception.

Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.