I'd like a drink. I desire to forget life. Life is a hideous invention by somebody I don't know. It doesn't last, and it's good for nothing. You break your neck simply living.

Monsieur' to a convict is a glass of water to a man dying of thirst at sea; ignominy thirsts for respect.

But alas, if I have not maintained my victory, it is God's fault for not making man and the devil of equal strength.

Monastic incarceration is castration.

Success is an ugly thing. Men are deceived by its false resemblances to merit.... They confound the brilliance of the firmament with the star-shaped footprints of a duck in the mud.

And, moreover, when it happens that both are sincere and good, nothing will mix and amalgamate more easily than an old priest and an old soldier. In reality, they are the same kind of man. One has devoted himself to country upon earth, the other to his country in heaven; there is no other difference.

If you look in the eyes of the young, you see flame. If you look in the eyes of the old, you see light.