You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.
Paul ValeryTo be sincere means to be the same person when one is with oneself; that is to say, alone - but that is all it means.
Paul ValeryLiberty is the hardest test that one can inflict on a people. To know how to be free is not given equally to all men and all nations.
Paul ValeryHistory is the most dangerous product evolved from the chemistry of the intellect. ...History will justify anything. It teaches precisely nothing, for it contains everything and furnishes examples of everything.
Paul Valery