“We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.”

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!

It’s better not to know so much about what things mean or how they might be interpreted or you’ll be too afraid to let things keep happening.

One’s better off alone, and yet there are so many things that are impossible to fathom on one’s own. In fact it’s a terrible business and the task is a hard one.

Life has a tendency to pile problems on problems, but god steps in with his bigger and better ways.

A year ago everything started to change. I didn’t think I could come out on the other side. The view is fine. I’m fine. Better now.

You don’t have to have perfect wisdom to get very rich – just a bit better than average over a long period of time.

The biggest price you pay for love is that you have to have somebody around, you can’t be on your own, which is always so much better.

I’m really big on day dates. If you go for a stroll, have a picnic or lunch with a glass of wine – it doesn’t get better than that.

My work is always better when I am alone and follow my own impressions.