"The arm I would like to reach out to my manuscript is paralyzed. There is nothing that disgusts me more than the sketches of my manuscripts. They look like crushed eggs before they were hatched. (July 31, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

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

"In style, the image is a germ of corruption. (October 30, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"There are times when everything goes your way. There is no need to be afraid. These are moments that pass. (October 31, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"Everything tires. Even the image, which is so helpful, ends up tiring. A style without images would be a superior style, but you only get there after long turns and after many excesses. (May 4, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 269)"

"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 artist only counts on the unexpected. (May 7, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 270)"

"Village. Certain neighborhoods are infected with hatred, pride, envy, malice. Only death can heal them. (May 8, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 270)"

"I see nothing in my life but reasons not to write a novel. (May 24, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 271)"

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

"I am sure that a humanity chaste would be infinitely superior. (May 24, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 272)"

"I climb up a chair to rummage through the bookcase, and if I see a torn book, I always take it. (June 16, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 272)"

"Mourning: The black lie. (August 22, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 274)"

"Life is neither long nor short. It has some delays. (August 22, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 274)"

"When you're about to die, you know fish. (November 23, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 276)"

"A more unpleasant thing than careerism is the display of modesty. (December 10, C.E.1909; p. 278)"

"I am ill, and I would like to say profound, somewhat historical things, such as my friends would repeat; But I'm too tired of nerves. (December 10, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 278)"

"You have to be sick for a whole year to understand how long a year! (December 10, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 278)"

"The mystery of the death is more than enough. All that goes into it is nothing more than a huge theatrical plot. (December 10, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 279)"

"Snow on the water: silence on silence. (January 26, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 280)"

"Flood. It's always smaller than my little imagination imagines. (January 26, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 280)"

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

"It is tremendous how hard it is to take an interest in the ailments of others when you are well. (January 26, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 281)"

"Humor: modesty, play of the spirit. It is the moral and daily hygiene of the soul. I have a high moral and literary idea of humour. Imagination makes you swerve. Sensitivity makes you bland. Humor is, in short, reason. The regularized man. No definition was enough for me. On the other hand, humor has it all. (February 23, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 282)"

"Between my brain and me there is always a layer that I can't penetrate. (February 23, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 282)"

"By the way, I'm done. I could start again and it would be better: but no one would notice. It's better that it's over. (February 27, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 283)"

"I have the apparent, docile and resigned life of a weathervane spinning on the roof. (March 6, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 283)"

"Those who do not have the disease of scruples should not even dream of being honest. (March 15, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 283)"

"I'm not sincere even when I say I'm not sincere."

"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)"

"This diary empties me. It is not an opera. To make love every day is not to love, either. (Jules Renard, January 1, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 177)"

"This is a diary of abortions. (Jules Renard, December 1, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 245)"

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

"Twilight is deceiving, as everyone knows. Things show their uncertain profiles. The flight of a gnat is as disturbing as the approach of a thunderstorm. (2010, p. 132)"

"Every moment Poil de carotte reappears to me. We live together, but I hope to die before him. From (Jules Renard)"

"Poil de carotte is a wrong, incomplete, badly composed book, because it came out of me in a flutter. From (Jules Renard)"

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

"Jules Renard, Diario C.E.1887-1910, translation and afterword by Orio Vergani, edited by Guido Vergani, SE, Milan, C.E.1989. ISBN 88-7710-141-5"

"Jules Renard, Pel di carota, translated by Frediano Sessi, Giunti Editore, Florence, C.E.2010. ISBN 8809757483"

"Jules Renard, Peldicarota, translated by Rossana Campo, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milan C.E.2007. ISBN 9788807821936"

"When I am shown a drawing, I look at it just long enough to prepare what I have to say about it. (March 9, C.E.1890; p. 44)"

"Balzac is perhaps the only writer who has the right to write badly. (March 23; Vergani, p. 45)"

"I would like to feed the words in the palm of my hand. (March 26, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 56)"

"Analyze a book! What would you say about a guest who, while eating a ripe peach, took the pieces out of his mouth to take a good look at them? (March 15, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 56)"