The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure

Boredom is a sickness the cure for which is work; pleasure is only a palliative.

The pleasure of love is in loving.

It was there, in particular, that I confirmed the truth that love, which we cry up as the source of our pleasures, is nothing more than an excuse for them.

All kinds of beauty do not inspire love; there is a kind that only pleases the sight but does not captivate the affections.

I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live.