“Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.”

“I've had some experience of this love, this love that rules our hearts, which is the soul of our souls; all it got me was a kiss and twenty kicks in the ass. How could so beautiful a cause have produced in you such an abominable effect?”

“All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.”

“Observe that for the novelist who has remained Christian, like myself, man is someone creating himself or destroying himself. He is not an immobile being, fixed, cast in a mold once and for all. This is what makes the traditional psychological novel so different from what I did or thought I was doing. The human being as I conceive him in the novel is a being caught up in the drama of human salvation, even if he doesn’t know it.”

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbor's, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.”

“At the end of the day, tell yourself gently: "I love you, you did the best you could today, and even if you didn't accomplished all you had planned, I love you anyway.”

“To secure the greatest amount of pleasure with the least possible outlay should be the aim of all economic effort.”