“No one realises that some individuals consume herculesque forces only to be normal.”

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

“At one time or another all normal people have wished their loved ones were dead.”

“There's always been war," said Veillard. "But people quickly get accustomed to peace. So they think it's normal. No, war is what's normal.”

“Thus and thus only the Christian could face the problem squarely and, scorning subterfuge, pierce to the heart of the supreme issues, the essential choice. And his choice would be to believe everything, so as not be forced into denying everything.”

“When one has once had the good luck to love intensely, life is spent in trying to recapture that ardor and that illumination. Forsakingbeauty and the sensual happiness attached to it, exclusively servingmisfortune, calls for a nobility I lack. But, after all, nothing is true that forces one to exclude.”

“The truth is that every intelligent man, as you know, dreams of being a gangster and of ruling over society by force alone. As it is not so easy as the detective novels might lead one to believe, one generally relies on politics and joins the cruelest party.What does it matter, after all, if by humiliating one's mind one succeeds in dominating every one? I discovered in myself sweet dreams of oppression.”