“Every instant of our lives is essentially irreplaceable: you must know this in order to concentrate on life.”

Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change.

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

Sadness is almost never anything but a form of fatigue.

To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company.

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves.

He who wants a rose must respect her thorn.

Nothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness.

There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.

A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective.

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

Believe those who are seeking truth, doubt those who find it.

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.

The color of truth is gray.

There is a law in life: when one door closes to us another one opens.

In other people’s company I felt I was dull, gloomy, unwelcome, at once bored and boring.

‘Therefore’ is a word the poet must not know.