those two wholesome defects of the French people, malice and curiosity, both of which are essential to its greatness.

One should make one's life a mosaic. Let the general design be good, the colors lively, and the materials diversified.

there are no nationalities in heaven.

that sunlight of the dead which is called literature.

Words express only the feelings we know already.

marriage was a calamity, but it was not an occupation.

Children never grow tired; their likes and dislikes are constant; let them laugh at something once and they laugh always; do what you will, they are sure to say, 'Do it again!

... love always betrays its intentions.

The birth of love is always accompanied by the idea of solitude. A single being appears, and the rest of the world grows empty.

history ... a sort of immortality turned upside down. Her life stretched backwards through ten centuries.

The affairs of the royal house form a subject of conversation for those who, as a rule, would have no conversation.

Depression is an imagery of our heart's sickness.

No time better than the present, ’ I always say. Or was that, ‘Nothing is better than a present’? I forget.

But while I accept specialization in the practice, I reject it utterly in the theory of science.

When the Word is stored in the heart, the individual finds it a wonderful power in preserving him from outbreaking sin.

Logic , like lyrical poetry , is no employment for the middle-aged

It didn't happen in the 70s. So I had a whole decade when I was writing these books and maybe there was a little bit here or there but there was no big effort to ban books.

We know more from nature than we can at will communicate.

In college, I had a lot of friends who were writers and wanted to be writers and I felt intimidated by it. I just didn't know if I had any gift or voice and I had no confidence about it.

At international level, giving the ball away doesn't work too often.

Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.