We know that we are going to die, in fact it is the only thing we know of what is in store for us. All the rest is mere guesswork, and most of the time we guess wrong.

Axel Munthe in The Story of San Michele (1929)
Added by Dan Costinaş
Comment! | Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian

A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself. He can live without hope, without friends, without books, even without music, as long as he can listen to his own thoughts.

quote by Axel Munthe
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Authors who delight in making their readers assist at scenes of sexual orgies are generally very indifferent actors in such scenes. Personally I only know of one exception to this rule, Guy de Maupassant, and I saw him die of it.

Axel Munthe in The Story of San Michele (1929)
Added by Dan Costinaş
Comment! | Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian

Is it true that there is no greater suffering than to remember our past happiness in our misery? I for one do not think so. It is with joy and not with sorrow that my thoughts go back to San Michele, where I have lived the happiest years of my life.

Axel Munthe in The Story of San Michele (1929)
Added by Dan Costinaş
Comment! | Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian

I know that life is beautiful, but I also know that we often make a mess of it and turn it into a silly farce or a heart-rending tragedy, or both, so much so that one ends by not knowing whether to cry or to laugh. It is easier to cry, but far better to laugh, so long as one doesn't laugh aloud.

Axel Munthe in The Story of San Michele (1929)
Added by Dan Costinaş
Comment! | Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian