"But time did not stand still, and now we scarcely love each other." I am thinking,' you said, 'that this moment will never come again. I am thinking… - Henri Barbusse

"Like all human beings, like me, like us, they wished for what they did not have. "I am alone and I want what I have not and what I shall never have." It is by this need that people live, and by this need that people die."

Tu pleures, tant ta peine est grande,
Dans un désert, sans rien savoir…
Et moi, debout auprès du soir,
Je suis triste comme une offrande

It is simply the truth which has come to our aid. It is truth which has given us life. Affection is the greatest of human feelings because it is made of respect, of lucidity, and light. To understand the truth and make one's self equal to it is everything; and to love is the same thing as to know and to understand. Affection, which I call also compassion, because I see no difference between them, dominates everything by reason of its clear sight. It is a sentiment as immense as if it were mad, and yet it is wise, and of human things it is the only perfect one. There is no great sentiment which is not completely held on the arms of compassion.