Emulation is not rivalry. Emulation is the child of ambition; rivalry is the unlovable daughter of envy.
A mother who is really a mother is never free.
In a world of hunchbacks, a fine figure becomes a monstrosity.
It is not hope but despair that gives us the measure of our ambitions. We may yield secretly to beautiful poems of hope but grief looms start and stripped of all veils.
The national budget is not a safe-deposit box. It is a spray can.
Perhaps it is only human nature to inflict suffering on anything that will endure suffering, whether by reason of its genuine humility, or indifference, or sheer helplessness.