Being good is easy, what is difficult is being just. - Victor Hugo

There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

Philosophy is the microscope of thought. Everything desires to flee from it, but nothing escapes it.

Cimourdain was a pure-minded but gloomy man. He had "the absolute" within him. He had been a priest, which is a solemn thing. Man may have, like the sky, a dark and impenetrable serenity; that something should have caused night to fall in his soul is all that is required. Priesthood had been the cause of night within Cimourdain. Once a priest, always a priest. Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars. Cimourdain was full of virtues and truth, but they shine out of a dark background.