“Mirrors should think longer before they reflect.”

“Watch yourself all your life in a mirror and you'll see Death at work like bees in a glass hive.”

“We are in a period of such individualism that one no longer speaks of disciples; one speaks of thieves.”

“What uniform can I wear to hide my heavy heart? It is too heavy. It will always show.Jacques felt himself growing gloomy again. He was well aware that to live on earth a man must follow its fashions, and hearts were no longer worn.”

“one should always talk well about oneself! The word spreads around and in the end, noone remembers where it started”

“Without opium, plans, marriages and journeys appear to me just as foolish as if someone falling out of a window were to hope to make friends with the occupants of the room before which he passes.”

“In two weeks, despite these notes, I shall no longer believe in what I am experiencing now. One must leave behind a trace of this journey which memory forgets. One must, when this is impossible, write or draw without responding to the romantic solicitations of pain, without enjoying suffering like music, tieing a pen to one's foot if need be, helping the doctors who can learn nothing from laziness.”