The Virgin filled so enormous a space in the life and thought of the time that one stands now helpless before the mass of testimony to her direct action and constant presence in every moment and form of the illusion which men thought they thought their existence.

Silence alone is respectable and respected. I believe God to be silence.

Intimates are predestined.

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.

We combat obstacles in order to get repose, and when got, the repose is insupportable.

The historian must not try to know what is truth, if he values his honesty; for if he cares for his truths, he is certain to falsify his facts.

Morality is a private and costly luxury.