“Life is a struggle, from the agonies of birth to the railing against death. Devour or be devoured. The law of the wild.”

“My birth is imminent. Forgive me, brethren. Do not prevent me from coming to life.– As he faced the prospect of being devoured by wild beasts for his faith”

“It would be better if there were nothing. Since there is more pain than pleasure on earth, every satisfaction is only transitory, creating new desires and new distresses, and the agony of the devoured animal is always far greater than the pleasure of the devourer”

“Marriage must fight constantly against a monster which devours everything: routine.”

“Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters? The evil speaker eats the flesh of his brother and bites the body of his neighbor. ”

“it is madness in al women to let a secret love kindle within them, which, if unreturned and unknown, must devour the life that feeds it; and, if discovered and responded to, must lead into miry wilds whence there is no extrication.”