Algebra and money are essentially levelers; the first intellectually, the second effectively.

The payment of debts is necessary for social order. The non-payment is quite equally necessary for social order. For centuries humanity has oscillated, serenely unaware, between these two contradictory necessities.

Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.

We possess nothing in the world - a mere chance can strip us of everything - except the power to say 'I.

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

Sin is nothing else but the failure to recognize human wretchedness.

Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison.