Sublime

"For the second time he has burst into my life as my good genius, my rescuer, resolving all my difficulties. Perhaps in every life there has to be, in addition to the other protagonists, a secret, unknown force, an almost symbolic figure who comes unsummoned to the rescue, and perhaps in mine Evgraf, my brother, plays the part of this hidden b

It seems to us that the most important work in the world is the work which is visible, which we can see: building a house, plowing the land, feeding cattle, gathering fruits; and that the work which is invisible, the work done by our soul, is not important. But our invisible work at the improvement of our soul is the most important work in the worl

Il avait été soldat et donné tout le sang de ce soldat à son pays. Et il avait découvert que ce pays était composé d'hommes pour la plupart sordides. Il s'était jeté alors et, de tout son élan, dans la révolte, et, derrière la révolte, il avait encore trouvé la même pauvreté humaine. Il avait tourné son ardeur et sa bravoure vers les entreprises de

The moment anybody comes close to me, his personality begins to overpower my self-esteem and intrude upon my freedom. Within one day I can end up hating the very best of men, some because they take too long over their dinner, others because they’ve caught a cold and keep blowing their noses. I become a misanthrope, he said, the minute I come into c

Napoleon went to St. Helena; Quoil came to Walden Woods. All I know of him is tragic. He was a man of manners, like one who had seen the world, and was capable of more civil speech than you could well attend to.

The old man looks out at the smears of rain vibrating on the window glass. His smile fades. “But Arthur, there is hope.” The great author quietly says:

he’d feel still better if only he could be sure of being left in peace. Rieux remarked that one couldn’t always be alone.