“There is nothing heavier than the burden of potential”

“There is no greater burden than great potential.”

“They are between. Not what they used to be, and not what they have become. In those times, they are nothing. And I am invisible, and I am nothing too. That is the true demimonde, Lucien, and the secret is, it is not always desperate and dark. Sometimes it is just nothing. No burden of potential or regret. There are worse things than being nothing, my friend.”

“When the burden of life becomes heavier, when it starts crushing our shoulders with all its might, it is time to be stronger!”

“All I know is that the closer I get to God, the deeper I get into the Bible, and the heavier the burden seems on my shoulders.”

“The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?”