If only the people around us could be convinced. But most of them believe they get nothing good out of… — André Gide
If only the people around us could be convinced. But most of them believe they get nothing good out of themselves except by constraint; they’re only pleased with themselves when they’re under duress. If there’s one thing each of them claims not to resemble it’s … himself. Instead he sets up a model, then imitates it; he doesn’t even choose the model—he accepts it ready-made.
p. 104Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Today beauty no longer acts, and action no longer bothers about being beautiful.
p. 111
What distinguished me from the rest was what mattered; what no one but I … could say—that was what I had to say.
p. 92
What interest could I take in myself, except as a perfectible being? This unknown perfection, vaguely as I imagined it, exalted my will as never before in my longing to achieve it; I dedicated this will utterly to fortifying my body.
p. 51
