She did not believe that things could remain the same in different places, and since the portion of her life that lay behind her had been bad, no doubt that which remained to be lived would be better.

What better occupation, really, than to spend the evening at the fireside with a book, with the wind beating on the windows and the lamp burning bright...Haven't you ever happened to come across in a book some vague notion that you've had, some obscure idea that returns from afar and that seems to express completely your most subtle feelings?

By dint of railing at idiots, one runs the risk of becoming an idiot oneself.

Whatever the thing you wish to say, there is but one word to express it, but one verb to give it movement, but one adjective to qualify it; you must seek until you find this noun, this verb, this adjective.

On spinach: I dislike it, and am happy to dislike it because if I liked it I would eat it, and I cannot stand it.

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.

(Egypt) is a great place for contrasts: splendid things gleam in the dust.