It is in the midst of the city that one writes the most inspiring pages about the country.

Life is what our character makes it. We fashion it, as a snail does its shell. A man can say: I never made a fortune because it is not in my character to be rich.

We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it

Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

Those moments when you feel you want to read something truly beautiful. The eyes make a tour of the library, and there is nothing. Then you decide to take no matter what, and it is full of beautiful things.

Let us stay at home: there we are decent. Let us not go out: our defects wait for us at the door, like flies.