“If ever my life can be of any use to you, come and claim it.”

“If you ever have need of my life, come and take it.”

“TRIGORIN Why do I hear a note of sadness that wrings my heart in this cry of a pure soul? If at any time you should have need of my life, come and take it.”

“Not only after two or three centuries, but in a million years, life will still be as it was; life does not change, it remains for ever, following its own laws which do not concern us, or which, at any rate, you will never find out. Migrant birds, cranes for example, fly and fly, and whatever thoughts, high or low, enter their heads, they will still fly and not know why or where. They fly and will continue to fly, whatever philosophers come to life among them; they may philosophize as much as they like, only they will fly....”

“When dawn comes I'm sitting in bed with my arms around my knees and, since I have nothing to do, am trying to know myself. "Know yourself"--what splendid and useful advice; too bad the ancients never thought of showing how to use this advice.”

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.”

“there are things in life which one can confide in one person only, whom one trusts. It is because of this that I write to my mother without the knowl- edge of the others, for whom my secrets are quite uninteresting, or, rather, . unnecessary.”