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

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.

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.

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

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.

If you don't put anything in place, do not expect miraculous results to appear.

If it hurts, do it more frequently, and bring the pain forward.

I don't want food that comes from animals that are caged up and fed antibiotics. I am really suspicious of that kind of production of meat and poultry.

Truly I never thought of myself as writing legal thrillers, and I still don't think I do. I write stories about women.

Frank [Zappa] said he probably would have been a major criminal, given his brain power and his attention to detail, had he not been a composer. But being a composer is not something you can't help.

You can't keep a juvenile moral institution alive on two displays of its sash per year.

When a man has made peace within himself, he will be able to make peace in the whole world.

Having a book is actually like a great master - helping to build a universe and unify work - especially in my pictures where there is such a strong signature, yet with a set of rigorous rules to it.

I think I have always had a pretty strong creative impulse. And that has probably saved me from abandoning myself completely.

Everything makes sense a bit at a time. But when you try to think of it all at once, it comes out wrong.