Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what he could have.

Everything comes to us from others. To Be is to belong to someone.

Atheism is a cruel long term business, and I have gone through it to the end.

At times discreetly, at times disgustingly, I yielded to the most fatal temptation whenever I could no longer bear it: as a result of impatience, Orpheus lost Eurydice; as a result of impatience, I lost myself.

There is no love apart from the deeds of love; no potentiality of love other than that which is manifested in loving.

I have always been an optimist, perhaps even too much.

I receive letters from workers, from secretaries. . . . They are the most interesting ones.