Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.

Self-interest is an inexhaustible source of convenient illusions. The number of beings who wish to see truly is extraordinarily small.

Sympathy is the first condition of criticism; reason and justice presuppose, at their origin, emotion.

To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on the lips of great men which so few understand; it is the cruelest trial reserved for self-devotion; it is what must have oftenest wrung the heart of the Son of man; and if God could suffer, it would be the wound we should be forever inflicting upon Him. He also - He above all - is the great misunderstood, the least comprehended.

Peace is not in itself a dream, but we know it only as the result of a momentary equilibrium--an accident.

Time wasted is a theft from God.

Every life is a profession of faith.