And I, as I lived, in an alien landWill die a slave and an orphan.

Out of life's storm I carried only a few ideas - and not one feeling.

Of two friends, one is always the slave of the other, although frequently neither acknowledges the fact to himself.

An unusual beginning must have an unusual end.

The history of a man's soul, even the pettiest soul, is hardly less interesting and useful than the history of a whole people; especially when the former is the result of the observations of a mature mind upon itself, and has been written without any egotistical desire of arousing sympathy or astonishment. Rousseau's Confessions has precisely this defect – he read it to his friends.

Anyone who has chanced like me to roam through desolate mountains and studied at length their fantastic shapes and drunk the invigorating air of their valleys can understand why I wish to describe and depict these magic scenes for others.

My whole life has been merely a succession of miserable and unsuccessful denials of feelings or reason.