Doubt … is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness.

I like prostitution. My heart has never failed to pound at the sight of one of those provocatively dressed women walking in the rain under the gaslamps, just as the sight of monks in their robes and girdles touches some ascetic, hidden corner of my soul.

Earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is limitless.

What is glory? It is to have a lot of nonsense talked about you.

One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.

Years passed; and he endured the idleness of his intelligence and the inertia of his heart.

Remembering the ball became for Emma a daily occupation. Every time Wednesday came round, she told herself when she woke up: 'Ah! One week ago...two weeks ago...three weeks ago, I was there!' And, little by little, in her memory, the faces all blurred together; she forgot the tunes of the quadrilles; no longer could she so clearly picture the liveries and the rooms; some details disappeared, but the yearning remained.