“There is not one among us in whom a devil does not dwell; at some time, on some point, that devil masters each of us... It is not having been in the Dark House, but having left it, that counts.”

“I believe the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God. I was into habit.”

“Now there are those among us who are trying to serve the Lord without offending the devil.”

“Time softens all griefs, they say, and it is useless to dwell on lives that might have been. We are granted only one life, and one is enough. Whom do such regrets profit? What do they achieve, except to bring us unhappiness?”

“Houses seem to remember,' said he. 'Some rooms oppress us with a sense of lives that have been lived in them.”

“That one must either explain life to oneself so that it does not seem to be an evil mockery by some sort of devil, or one must shoot oneself.”