I never started from ideas but always from character.

There are some moments in life, some feelings; one can only point to them and pass by.

The word tomorrow was invented for indecisive people and for children.

Tempered, gradual animation, the methodical restrain of sensations and energies, the equilibrium of sickness and health in each creature--this is nature's essence, its immutable law, this is what it's based on and what it adheres to.

What's terrible is that there's nothing terrible, that the very essence of life is petty, uninteresting, and degradingly trite.

Only one thing bothered me: at this very moment, as they say, of inexplicable bliss there would be a sinking feeling at the pit of my stomach and my abdomen would be assailed by a melancholy, cold shivering. In the end I couldn't abide such happiness and ran away.

Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man's the workman in it.