“What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing of the origin and destiny of cats?”

The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.

Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.

We are constantly invited to be what we are.

It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

I have a room all to myself; it is nature.

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

I have an immense appetite for solitude, like an infant for sleep, and if I don’t get enough for this year, I shall cry all the next.

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

It is never too late to give up your prejudices.

I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself.

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

Love at first sight? I absolutely believe in it! You’ve got to keep the faith. Who doesn’t like the idea that you could see someone tomorrow and she could be the love of your life? It’s very romantic.

There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.

There is a fearful splendor in absolute desolation.

The beauty, the poetry of the fear in their eyes. I didn’t mind going to jail for, what, five, six hours? It was absolutely worth it.

The life of a writer is absolute hell compared to the life of a businessman.

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.