“After all, the world is still great.”

“Life's not so bad after all. There are not only poison but also antidotes.”

“Who wants to do good in this world must deny oneself. A man does not live on this Earth to be happy or to be honest only - he has to do great things for humanity, achieve the generosity of the spirit and rise above the banality where most of the people are drowning and wasting their days.”

“Cardinal Giovanni still did not like delicate matters; they were usually painful.”

“The brooding is better than the joy because even if the heart fills with happiness, it still mourns.”

“He had been standing still; for an artist, one of the more painful forms of death.”

“There seemed to be that same fierce quest after truth, the same unafraid penetration, the same feeling that character is beauty, no matter how sordid it may appear.”