You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love, is to live by it.
The mind is a garden.
There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.
But after all, the rumors with which his name was connected were rumors only,—noise, sayings, words; less than words.
What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul.
Poverty has this about it that is like nakedness, it strips a man; it gives to the soul a chill which is not fictitious; it makes the whole being shudder.
In houses where people are among themselves, I am superfluous. There are families, but there is nothing of the sort for me. I am an unlucky wretch.
To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life.
The greatest favorites of destiny make mistakes. Our joys are composed of shadow. The supreme smile is God's alone.
Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.
The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.
He sought to counsel and soothe the despairing by pointing to the resigned, and to transform the grief which sees only a pit into the grief with sees a star.
The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself.
True or false, that which is said of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all in their destinies, as that which they do.
The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God.
There are people who observe the rules of honor as we do the stars, from a very long way off.
It is a charming quality of the happiness we inspire in others that, far from being diminished like a reflection, it comes back to us enhanced.
Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable.
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.
For our part, if we had to choose between the barbarians of civilization and those civilized upholders of barbarism, we would choose the former.
Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face.
Do not inquire the name of him who asks a shelter of you. The very man who is embarrassed by his name is the one who needs shelter.
The least possible sin is the law of man. No sin at all is the dream of the angel. All which is terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation.
The beautiful is as useful as the useful.
Teach those who are ignorant as many things as possible; society is culpable, in that it does not afford instruction gratis; it is responsible for the night which it produces.