When a man is taken in a mystical sense, his qualities are often signified by his actions, and by the circumstances of things about him.
What I need and what I want are two very different things.
We do not succeed in changing things in accordance with our desires, but gradually our desires change.[Nous n’arrivons pas à changer les choses selon notre désir, mais peu à peu notre désir change.]
We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.
Trouble is, just because things are obvious doesn’t mean they’re true.
Though the great things of life are simple to understand and easy to express, the littlenesses require a vast number of details to explain them.[Si les choses grandes sont simples à comprendre, faciles à exprimer, les petitesses de la vie veulent beaucoup de détails.]
Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things.
Things that are mysterious are not yet miracles.
Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.
Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.
Things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.
Things get bad for all of us, almost continually, and what we do under the constant stress reveals who/what we are.
