“But that afternoon he asked himself, with his infinite capacity for illusion, if such pitiless indifference might not be a subterfuge for hiding the torments of love.”

Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future.

The spirit of her invincible heart guided her through the shadows.

I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world.

This was when she asked him whether it was true that love conquered all, as the songs said. ‘It is true’, he replied, ‘but you would do well not to believe it.

A man only has the right to look down at another when he helps him to lift himself up.

I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life.

Your first realization when you become an important person is that all day and all night, whatever the circumstances, people want to hear you talk about yourself.

One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily.

Crazy people are not crazy if one accepts their reasoning.

And the two of them loved each other for a long time in silence without making love again.

As a writer I’m merely a journalist who has learned to write better than others.

Amputees suffer pains, cramps, itches in the leg that is no longer there. That is how she felt without him, feeling his presence where he no longer was.

She was lost in her longing to understand.

A true friend is the one who holds your hand and touches your heart.

He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.

She discovered with great delight that one does not love one’s children just because they are one’s children but because of the friendship formed while raising them.

Never compromise on who you are. You are born with the capacity to achieve greatness if you so desire.

All men have the capacity of knowing themselves and acting with moderation.

Like all of life’s important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives.

The root of peace lies in the capacity to listen.

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.

The capacity to get free is nothing; the capacity to be free is the task.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

Forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?