“Pain was something one had to die with. It was something that left no strength in the arms, in the head, and destroyed even the courage to turn the head from side to side on the pillow.” My Sweet Orange Tree

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. War and Peace

Deception, flattering, lying, deluding, talking behind the back, putting up a false front, living in borrowed splendor, wearing a mask, hiding behind convention, playing a role for others and for oneself -- in short, a continuous fluttering around the solitary flame of vanity -- is so much the rule and the law among men that there is almost nothing which is less comprehensible than how an honest and pure drive for truth could have arisen among them. On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense