M. Proust was more severe than M. de Caillavet on Anatole France: “He was selfish and supercilious. He had read so much that he had left his heart in other people’s books, and all that...

J’ai toujours préféré la folie des passions à la sagesse de l’indifférence.

All writers of confessions from Augustine on down, have always remained a little in love with their sins.

Had I realized while on Earth,” he said, “that Hell was such a delightful place, I should have put more faith in the teachings of religion. As it was, I actually doubted its existence. A...