Three things are needed to educate the peasantry: schools, schools, and schools.

The chief difference between words and deeds is that words are always intended for men for their approbation, but deeds can be done only for God.

But every acquisition that is disproportionate to the labor spent on it is dishonest.

Just as a painter needs light in order to put the finishing touches to his picture, so I need an inner light, which I feel I never have enough of in the autumn.

Memento mori - remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die-what makes this any different from a half hour?

Can it be that I have overlooked something, that there is something which I have failed to understand? Is it not possible that this state of despair is common to everyone?

Pierre was one of those people who are strong only when they feel themselves perfectly pure.