Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.

Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.

If life were eternal, all interest and anticipation would vanish. It is uncertainty which lends it fascination.

The hour of death waits for no order. Death does not even come from the front. It is ever pressing on from behind. All men know of death, but they do not expect it of a sudden, and it comes upon them unawares. So, though the dry flats extend far out, soon the tide comes and floods the beach.

It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.

A certain recluse, I know not who, once said that no bonds attached him to this life, and the only thing he would regret leaving was the sky.

The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty