"People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura oflife which bears no relation to true immortality but through which theycontinue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. Itis as though they were traveling abroad."
"It is grief that develops the powers of the mind."
"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us."
"Reading is at the threshold of the spiritual life; it can introduce us to it. It does not constitute it ... There are certain cases of spiritual depression in which reading can become a sort of curative discipline ... reintroducing a lazy mind into the life of the Spirit."
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
"Reading is that fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude."