You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me.

And what if I did run my ship aground; oh, still it was splendid to sail it!

It’s a release to know that in spite of everything a premeditated act of courage is still possible.

Bigger things than the State will fall, all religion will fall.

Oh, one soon makes friends with invalids; and I need so much to have someone to live for.

Friends are to be feared, not so much for what they make us do as what they keep us from doing.

Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it... it's just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse.