“All the good writers of confessions, from Augustine onwards, are men who are still a little in love with their sins.”

“Suffering — how divine it is, how misunderstood! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.”

“It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.”

“If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”

“You see, Dimitri and I, we are both suffering from ennui! We have still the match-boxes. But at last one gets tired even of match-boxes. Besides, our collection will soon be complete. And then what are we going to do?"'Oh, Madame!' I exclaimed, touched by the moral unhappiness of this pretty person, 'if you only had a son, then you would know what to do. You would then learn the purpose of your life, and your thoughts would become at once more serious and yet more cheerful.''But I have a son,' she replied. 'He is a big boy; he is eleven years old, and he suffers from ennui like the rest of us. Yes, my George has ennui, too; he is tired of everything. It is very wretched.”

“In art as in love, instinct is enough. ”

“Great courage was required to engage in such an adventure. But George was in love and Freeheart was faithful. And as the most delightful of poets says“What cannot Friendship guided by sweet Love?”