The tiny, initial clue ... by allowing us to imagine what we do not know, stimulates a desire for knowledge.

...a writer's works, like the water in an artesian well, mount to a height which is in proportion to the depth to which suffering has penetrated his soul.

The soldier is convinced that a certain indefinitely extendable time period is accorded him before he is killed, the burglar before he is caught, men in general, before they must die. That is the amulet which preserves individuals — and sometimes populations — not from danger, but from the fear of danger, in reality from the belief in danger, which in some cases allows them to brave it without being brave. Such a confidence, just as unfounded, supports the lover who counts on a reconciliation, a letter.

Human altruism which is not egoism, is sterile.

Lies are essential to humanity.

For, just as in the beginning it is formed by desire, so afterwards love is kept in existence only by painful anxiety.

The loss of a sense adds as much beauty to the world as its acquisition.