“But to find, all at once, right before your eyes, that the impossible had been mysteriously achieved by man himself: this staggers the mind!”

The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.

Poets are like proverbs: you can always find one to contradict another.

Solitude, isolation, are painful things, and beyond human endurance.

He must have travelled everywhere, at least in the spirit.

It must be, for there is a logic to everything on this earth and nothing is done without a reason, that God sometimes lets scientists discover.

It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.

We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.

So is man’s heart. The desire to perform a work which will endure, which will survive him, is the origin of his superiority over all other living creatures here below. It is this which has established his dominion, and this it is which justifies it, over all the world.

What darkness is to you is light is to me.

The Great Architect of the universe built it of good firm stuff.

The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment.

As long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life.

I am very bad at expressing tender sentiments. The very word ‘love’ frightens me.

The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the ‘Living Infinite.

Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one.

How many things have been denied one day, only to become realities the next!

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Many hands and hearts and minds generally contribute to anyone’s notable achievements.

Excellence at everything you can do can be achieved on if it is a habit.

People will wish you all the success in the world and then hate you when you get it.

Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some get it as a graduation gift.

The one thing I would never wish it to be thought is that you play serious roles in order to achieve some sort of respectability which you can’t if you’re playing comedic roles.

The only way to achieve success is by fighting together.

Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.