Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.

The book which the reader now holds in his hands, from one end to the other, as a whole and in its details, whatever gaps, exceptions, or weaknesses it may contain, treats of the advance from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsity to truth, from darkness to daylight, from blind appetite to conscience, from decay to life, from bestiality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from limbo to God. Matter itself is the starting-point, and the point of arrival is the soul. Hydra at the beginning, an angel at the end.

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said.

Hell is an outrage on humanity. When you tell me that your deity made you in his image, I reply that he must have been very ugly.

I dislike wealth and prosperity, especially that of other men.

Success is a very hideous thing. Its false resemblance to merit deceives men.

To err is human. To loaf is Parisian.