Men play at tragedy because they do not believe in the reality of the tragedy which is actually being staged in the civilised world

Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights. Noblesse oblige. 'To live as one likes is plebeian; the noble man aspires to order and law.'

There is no doubt; even a rejection can be the shadow of a caress”.

Poetry has become the higher algebra of metaphors.

In their choice of lovers both the male and the female reveal their essential nature. The type of human being we prefer reveals the contours of our heart. Love is an impulse which springs from the most profound depths of our beings, and upon reaching the visible surface of life carries with it an alluvium of shells and seaweed from the inner abyss. A skilled naturalist, by filing these materials, can reconstruct the oceanic depths from which they have been uprooted.

Hating someone is feeling irritation by their mere existence.

Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be.