Forgive me, Bertrand, for having on that day loved in you a beauty in which your self-esteem could take no pride, which could not in any way determine my affection.

Much that for us is fraught with with happiness or misery, remains almost unnoticed by the rest of the world.

This book of mine has not been manufactured: it has been garnered.

Sadness had reigned in undisputed sovereignty over his shadowed childhood.

The wretchedness of ordinary life, endured so gaily when it is part of our normal existence, is made far worse when it comes as something new, and is exaggerated by the working of the imagination.

When we are nice to others, we generally lose all claim to their respect.

Monsieur Beulier never engaged in thought except to speak the truth, and never spoke except to express his thought.

Even his mother, his own mother, had once accused him of being a snob.

The glutton usually realizes that gout is ever ready to pounce, and that alcohol is bad for him. But possible disaster weighs light in the scale against certain pleasure.

Jean's desires, like those of all men in love, were concentrated on the impossible.

It was not that Madame Santeuil's moral values had altered, but only her view of the moral values of others.

Ignorance is a horrible thing. But arrogance, the belief that knowing a little more than the ignorant makes you wise, is more horrible still.

A schoolboy's tale the wonder of an hour!

Men are much oftener thrown on their knees by the melancholy than by the agreeable passions.

I have this belief that children become readers before they can read. They become hooked on books because they were read aloud to as a child.

Ah, stupid, you know I love you, too.

The painter's mind is a copy of the divine mind, since it operates freely in creating the many kinds of animals, plants, fruits, landscapes, countrysides, ruins, and awe-inspiring places.

I went to the library and began to read some stuff on my own. My discovery of James Baldwin was life-changing. I read Go Tell It on the Mountain first, and that was hugely impactful.

We manifest character when self-sacrifice for the sake of our principles becomes more important than compromise for the sake of popularity.

The fun is created only through innocence and innocence is the only way you can really emit also the fun. Imagine this world without any fun, what would happen?

Certainly dog driving is the most terrible work one has to face in this sort of business.