It takes time for the absent to assume their true shape in our thoughts.

Time spent with a cat is never wasted.

That lovely voice; how I should weep for joy if I could hear it now!

I went to collect the few personal belongings which...I held to be invaluable: my cat, my resolve to travel, and my solitude.

Jealousy is not at all low, but it catches us humbled and bowed down, at first sight.

Smokers, male and female, inject and excuse idleness in their lives every time they light a cigarette.

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.