Separated lovers cheat absence by a thousand fancies which have their own reality. They are prevented from seeing one another and they cannot write; nevertheless they find countless mysterious ways of corresponding, by sending each other the song of birds, the scent of flowers, the laughter of children, the light of the sun, the sighing of the wind, and the gleam of the stars --all the beauties of creation.

Age and Aging

Forty is the old age of youth, fifty is the youth of old age.

Argument

Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.

Blindness

We may remark in passing that to be blind and beloved may, in this world where nothing is perfect, be among the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness. The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself; and this assurance the blind man possesses. In his affliction, to be served is to be caressed. Does he lack anything? no. Possessing love he is not deprived of light. A love, moreover, that is wholly pure. There can be no blindness where there is this certainty.

Common Sense

Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education.

Courage

Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones. When you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

Danger

Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.

Enlightenment

In this world, which is so plainly the antechamber of another, there are no happy men. The true division of humanity is between those who live in light and those who live in darkness. Our aim must be to diminish the number of the latter and increase the number of the former. That is why we demand education and knowledge.

Freedom

Liberation is not deliverance.

Happiness

Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.

Ideas

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.

Irony

Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From that divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization.

Life and Living

Those who live are those who fight.

Love

To love another person is to see the face of God. [Les Miserables]

Mistakes

The greatest blunders, like the thickest ropes, are often compounded of a multitude of strands. Take the rope apart, separate it into the small threads that compose it, and you can break them one by one. You think, "That is all there was!" But twist them all together and you have something tremendous.

Popularity

Popularity? It's glory's small change.

Punishment

Let us have compassion for those under chastisement. Alas, who are we ourselves? Who am I and who are you? Whence do we come and is it quite certain that we did nothing before we were born? This earth is not without some resemblance to a gaol. Who knows but that man is a victim of divine justice? Look closely at life. It is so constituted that one senses punishment everywhere.

Taste

My tastes are aristocratic, my actions democratic.

Will and Will Power

People do not lack strength; they lack will.