She had had sweet dreams, which possibly arose from the fact that her little bed was very white.

It seemed to be a necessary ritual that he should prepare himself for sleep by meditating under the solemnity of the night sky... a mysterious transaction between the infinity of the soul and the infinity of the universe.

A library implies an act of faith.

One of the hardest tasks is to extract continually from one's soul an almost inexhaustible ill will.

He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her up, though tottering himself. He felt as if his head were filled with smoke; flashes of light slipped through his eyelids; his thoughts vanished; it seemed to him that he was performing a religious act, and that he was committing a profanation. Moreover, he did not feel one passionate desire for this ravishing woman, whose form he felt against his heart. He was lost in love.

You ask me what forces me to speak? a strange thing; my conscience.

He did not study God; he was dazzled by him.