No one asked you to be happy. Get to work.

On this narrow planet, we have only the choice between two unknown worlds. One of them tempts us - ah! what a dream, to live in that! - the other stifles us at the first breath.

Chance, my master and my friend, will, I feel sure, deign once again to send me the spirits of his unruly kingdom. All my trust is now in him- and in myself. But above all in him, for when I go under he always fishes me out, seizing and shaking me like a life-saving dog whose teeth tear my skin a little every time. So now, whenever I despair, I no longer expect my end, but some bit of luck, some commonplace little miracle which, like a glittering link, will mend again the necklace of my days.

A few days later, I found my mother beneath the tree, motionless with excitement, her head turned toward the heavens in which she would allow human religions no place.

If we want to be sincere, we must admit that there is a well-nourished love and an ill-nourished love. And the rest is literature.

A kindly gesture bestowed by us on an animal arouses prodigies of understanding and gratitude.

I am going away with him to an unknown country where I shall have no past and no name, and where I shall be born again with a new face and an untried heart.