To will oneself moral and to will oneself free are one and the same decision.

There is no such thing as a natural death: nothing that happens to a man is ever natural, since his presence calls the world into question. All men must die: but for every man his death is an accident and, even if he knows it and consents to it, an unjustifiable violation.

It was easier for me to think of a world without a creator than of a creator loaded with all the contradictions of the world.

The knight departing for new adventures offends his lady, yet she has nothing but contempt for him if he remains at her feet.

I think it's wrong to write in a totally esoteric language when you want to talk about things which interest a multitude of women.

Virginia Woolf thought a lot about her own sex when she wrote. In the best sense of the word, her writing is very feminine, and by that I mean that women are supposed to be very sensitive to all the sensations of nature, much more so than men, much more contemplative. It's this quality that marks her best works.

If you haven't been happy very young, you can still be happy later on, but it's much harder. You need more luck.