“It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud ...”

“A few days later, I found my mother beneath the tree, motionless with excitement, her head turned toward the heavens in which she would allow human religions no place.”

“No one asked you to be happy. Get to work.”

“Be happy. It's one way of being wise”

“What a wonderful life Ive had! I only wish Id realized it sooner.”

“I did not look for her, because I was afraid of dispelling the mystery we attach to people whom we know only casually.”

“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”

“Enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity.”

“It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.”

“And, conversely, she went on to herself, sneering at the Grand Duke's palace, poverty is wasted on the poor, who never know how to make the best of things, are only the rich without money, are just...”

“In wars, boy, fools kill other fools for foolish causes”

“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”

“People become concerned with being more humble than other people.”