But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous… — William Somerset Maugham

Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history.

Men are always the same. Fear makes them cruel.

Tahiti is very far away, and I knew that I should never see it again. A chapter of my life was closed, and I felt a little nearer to inevitable death.