The more a man lives, the more a man creates, the more a man loves and loses those whom he loves, the more does he escape from death. With every new blow that we have to bear, with every new work that we round and finish, we escape from ourselves, we escape into the work we have created, the soul we have loved, the soul that has left us.

I know at last what distinguishes man from animals; financial worries.

If a man is to shed the light of the sun upon other men, he must first of all have it within himself.

Take possession of the air, submit the elements, penetrate the last redoubts of nature, make space retreat, make death retreat.

All these young millionaires were anarchists, of course: when a man possesses everything it is the supreme luxury for him to deny society: for in that way he can evade his responsibilities

There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it.

Most men are essentially dead by thirty.