“Everything that seems imperishable tends to extinguishment.”

“Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade. ”

“For in this worldof ours where everything withers, everything perishes, there is a thing that decays, that crumbles into dust even more completely, leaving behind, still fewer traces of itself, than beauty: namely, grief.”

“Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as the thoughts of a former existence must be to a reincarnate spirit”

“Compared with that of a great artist, the friendliness of a great nobleman, however charming it may be, seems like play-acting, like simulation. Saint-Loup sought to please; Elstir loved to give, to give himself. Everything he possessed, ideas, works, and the rest which he counted for far less, he would have given gladly to anyone who understood him. But, for lack of congenial company, he lived in an unsociable isolation which fashionable people call pose and ill-breeding, the authorities a recalcitrant spirit, his neighbours madness, his family selfishness and pride.”

“Everything great in the world is done by neurotics; they alone founded our religions and created our masterpieces.”

“Were it not for habit, life would seem delightful to beings constantly under threat of dying, in other words to all humankind.”