“I was deeply interested in the little family history which he detailed to me with all that candor which a Frenchman indulges whenever mere self is the theme.”

“The deepest, the only theme of human history, compared to which all others are of subordinate importance, is the conflict of scepticism with faith.”

“I have to declare in all candor that no one interested in being published in our time can afford to be so naive as to believe that a book will make it merely because it's good.”

“The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.”

“The very freedom which the sinner supposedly exercises in his self-indulgence is only another proof that he is ruled by the tyrant.”

“It is hard to bear with people who stand still along the way, lose heart, and seek their happiness in little pleasures which they cling to...You feel sad about all that self-indulgence and self-satisfaction, for you know with an indestructible certainty that something greater is coming.”