And now she was thinking of her own death, with her heart gripped not by fear but by the excitement of a great discovery, the feeling that she was about to learn what she had...

On ne comprends rien à la civilisation moderne, si l’on n’admet pas d’abord qu’elle est une conspiration universelle contre toute espèce de vie intérieure.

Il faut beaucoup d’indisciplinés pour faire un peuple libre.

The wish to pray is a prayer in itself.

Le mensonge n’a jamais paru répréhensible à Mouchette, car mentir est le plus précieux, et sans doute l’unique privilège des misérables.

Our habits are our friends. Even our bad habits.” — Diary of a Country Priest

Suicide only really frightens those who are never tempted by it and never will be, for its darkness only welcomes those who are predestined to it.

Ô maudite enfance, qui ne veut pas mourir !

Satan is too hard a master. He would never command as did the Other with divine simplicity: ‘Do likewise.’ The devil will have no victims resemble him. He permits only a rough caricature, impotent, abject,...

I have no ambition to change my nature, I merely intend to conquer my dislikes.