On the whole, however, it is only out of pride or gross ignorance, or cowardice, that we refuse to see in the present the lineaments of times to come.

I think still that someone wiser than I might well have remained happy till his death.

The written word has taught me to listen to the human voice, much as the great unchanging statues have taught me to appreciate bodily motions.

No one understands eternity. One simply recognizes its existence.

I have come to think that great men are characterized precisely by the extreme position which they take, and that their heroism consists in holding to that extremity throughout their lives.

nothing is slower than the true birth of a man

This city belongs to ghosts, to murderers, to sleepwalkers. Where are you, in what bed, in what dream?