"There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves."

"Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man." Thomas De Quincy

"L’homme, disait M…, est un sot animal, si j’en juge par moi."

"On ne se doute pas, au premier coup d’œil, du mal que fait l’ambition de mériter cet éloge si commun : Monsieur un tel est très-aimable."

"Il est des têtes qui n’ont point de fenêtres et que le jour ne peut frapper d’en haut. Rien n’y vient du côté du ciel."

"The book is one of the springs of creative individualism, that individualism which remains the guardian angel of human society."

"Que d’esprits ont la vue basse ! Ce sont des myopes pour lesquels un opticien devrait bien inventer des lunettes."

"There was once a wild goose. In the autumn, about the time for migration, it became aware of some tame geese."

"What poem is this of spring, so often repeated ! I am thrilled when I hear it spoken of..."

"30 Mai. Je me promène à l'intérieur, sur mon lac d'ennui. J'y fais de petites promenades joyeuses."

"The older I grow, the more of an alien I find myself in the world; I cannot get used to it, cannot believe that it is real."

"Can it be possible that I am as real as any one else, and that all of us feel ourselves like ghosts and goblins in this authentic world ?"

"I offer this book to you not as a lorgnette to observe others but as a mirror to observe yourself."

"One wishes for laziness in wicked men and silence in fools."

“Success, peace, happiness, and distraction — pale before the question of whether or not one experiences this life as meaningful.”

"J’adore les roses, .. ce sont des beautés champêtres délicieuses dont nous avons su faire des princesses incomparables..."

"Veuillez m’excuser de vous avoir fait attendre. C’est l’heure du jour que je consacre à mon nouveau « violon d’Ingres », la photographie."

"Quel que soit son art, l'artiste apaise le monde, il est précieux en ce qu'il enrichit le cœur de l'homme." Natsume Sôseki

"Modern capitalism needs men who cooperate smoothly in large numbers, who want to consume more and more and whose tastes are standardized."

[Quotes] "People are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things."

[African Spir : Quotes / Citations]

« Je me jetais sur les livres comme s'ils devaient nécessairement me livrer la clef de moi-même. Et la serrure avec. » Louis Calaferte

"The essence of thought, as the essence of life, is growth."

"When I have set myself now and then to consider the various distractions of men, the toils and dangers to which they expose themselves..."