A voyage without companionship, that is to say without conversation, is one of the saddest pleasures of life.

Enthusiasm gives life to what is invisible; and interest to what has no immediate action on our comfort in this world.

The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes.

Happiness is a wondrous commodity: the more you give, the more you have.

A Gothic building engenders true religion ... The light, falling through colored glass, the singular forms of the architecture, unite to give a silent image of that infinite mystery which the soul for ever feels, and never comprehends.

The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.

[The Germans] so easily confuse obstinacy with energy, and rudeness with firmness.