Whether we are describing a king, an assassin, a thief, an honest man, a prostitute, a nun, a young girl, or a stallholder in a market, it is always ourselves that we are describing.

We breathe love as we breathe air; we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us.

We live always under the weight of the old and odious customs... of our barbarous ancestors.

Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck.

Military men are the scourges of the world.

Whether we are describing a king, an assassin, a thief, an honest man, a prostitute, a nun, a young girl, or a stallholder in a market, it is always ourselves that we are describing.

I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing