Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin.
Henri Frederic AmielThe germs of all things are in every heart, and the greatest criminals as well as the greatest heroes are but different modes of ourselves.
Henri Frederic AmielA journal takes the place of a confidant, that is, of friend or wife; it becomes a substitute for production, a substitute for country and public. It is a grief-cheating device, a mode of escape and withdrawal; but, factotum as it is, though it takes the place of everything, properly speaking it represents nothing at all.
Henri Frederic Amiel