"Everything we are we put in our first book. Later on, we only pluck out the weeds of our faults and cultivate our first qualities, when we really manage to do something. (May 1, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 152)"

"The blush spreads on a maiden's cheek like the fogging of breath on a glass of cold water. (September 11, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 253)"

"It is necessary to love nature and men in spite of their mud. (March 27, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 65)"

"A bit of profanity emphasizes talent. (October 26, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 155)"

"The blessed solitude in which one can finally thoroughly wipe one's nose. (Sept. 11, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 66)"

"Barring complications, he will die. (October 12, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 174)"

"If you remember me with a statue, make a hole in it so that the birds can come and drink it. (December 10, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 156)"

"The peasants carry their heavy hands as if they were carrying old tools. (June 2, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 169)"

"I proceed through life like a mole. From time to time, I drop some dirt. A brief clearing. Then, back in the dark. (May 10, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 168)"

"Anatole France, after all, is only the first of the amateurs. (October 15, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"I know: all great men, in the beginning, were misunderstood; But I'm not a great man and I'd like to be understood right away. (April 28, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 65)"

"Those who have spoken best of death are all dead. (August 9, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 172)"

"Our goodness is but our badness that sleeps. (June 2, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 169)"

"You should write how you breathe. A harmonious breath, with its slowness and its suddenly hurried rhythms, a natural breath, here, the symbol of beautiful style. (May 4, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 270)"

"The white blackbird exists, but it is so white that you can't see it. The black blackbird is but its shadow. (August 11, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 172)"

"remorse go back and forth dressed in a small carabiniere suit. (October 9, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 173)"

"In some friends there is nothing pleasant but their virginity. When you got married to them, things don't go well anymore. (October 9, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 173)"

"Dreamer like a cat looking at the bright rays of a lamp on the ceiling. (February 16, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 281)"

"I have an anticlerical soul and a monk's heart. (January 24, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 227)"

"If you fear loneliness, try not to be righteous. (July 10, C.E.1905)"

"children should be optional apparitions. When Fantec sees me again a fortnight later, he tells me that I have grown up. (February 4, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 72)"

"My worn pants on the knee denounce that every night I look to see if there is someone under the bed. (December 22, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 191)"

"[Leaf|leaves]] move like the lips of a child who doesn't quite know his lesson and who is looking for what he has to say. (December 17, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 175)"

"That little girl seems to be in a cage behind her grandiose undulating harp, and she keeps scratching the bars of her cage with her fingers. (January 28, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 178)"

"Life leads to anything, as long as you get out of it. (January 8, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 177)"

"I have read a few pages of this diary. At the end of the day, it's the best and most useful thing I've done in my life. (Jules Renard, 14 November C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 174)"

"Distinguished critic, I understand your criticism very well. Know, let it be said between us, that I don't always like myself either. (October 14, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 67)"

"It is not good for a masterpiece to be fully known, at the first try. Future generations must be given time to mature. Otherwise, they change their minds. (February 18, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 181)"

"Today I practice laughing for a good hour, to deserve the reputation of a gay writer that they wanted to give me. (February 18, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 180)"

"Not everyone can be orphan. (2010, p. 126)"

"She is the most faithful of all the wives: in fact, she has not deceived any of her lovers. (October 23, C.E.1981; Vergani, p. 184)"

"old age comes abruptly, like snow. One morning, when you wake up, you realize that everything is white. (December 9, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 190)"

"A fly is dirtier in winter than in summer. It seems that she stayed in our room not because of the heat, but only because she was attracted by our rotten smell. (November 25, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 190)"

"I can say that, thanks to Poil de carotte, I will have doubled my life. From (Jules Renard)"

"I know at last what distinguishes man from beasts; financial difficulties. (December 16, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 224)"

"It's not enough to be happy! It is also necessary that others are not. (May 16, 1894; Vergani, p. 75)"

"When I think that maybe I wouldn't be socialist if I could have written a play in three acts! (January 9, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 225)"

"His accomplishments say he's talented, and his fiascos say he's a thinker. (January 25, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 200)"

"The greatest man is only a child whom life has deceived. (October 17, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 111)"

"Provincial walls exude resentment. (December 30, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 117)"

"Slavs: writers who write between the lines instead of writing on them. (January 9, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 225)"

"What about the wind? All the gusts of wind come to moan at his door. (October 4, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 232)"

"The "beautiful descriptions" put on me the taste for three-line descriptions. (May 24, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 272)"

"As mayor I have to worry about the good maintenance of the roads in the countryside: as a poet I would prefer them to be neglected. (May 28, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 218)"

"Glory is no more than a colonial genre. (July 18, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 110)"

"Ever since I met the real peasants, every bucolic has seemed like a lie to me: even mine. (September 19, C.E.1904; Vergani, pp. 219-220)"