“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”

I think the devil doesn’t exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

You can be sincere and still be stupid.

Besides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.

A beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.

I love mankind, he said, “but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.

Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.

You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.

Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his happiness.

If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.

But how could you live and have no story to tell?

Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel.

Killing myself was a matter of such indifference to me that I felt like waiting for a moment when it would make some difference.

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them – the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.