would be the waiting room. Dying serves no purpose so die now. The horse is the only animal into which one can bang nails. We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it. I find when I do not think of myself I do not think at all. Failure is not the only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others. Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money. As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to love it more and more. I am never bored anywhere; being bored is an insult to oneself. If I were to begin life again, I should want it as it was. I would only open my eyes a little more. Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties. Not everybody can be an orphan. See also Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, a list which includes the Journal References External links Jules Renard on Encyclopædia Britannica Jules Renard Biography and Bibliography Jules Renard Biography Jules Renard Quotes - The Quotations Page at www.quotationspage.com The Journal of Jules Renard at Tin House Pour Jules Renard: Biography, quotes and many links Amoureux de Jules Renard: Daily Diary and quotes 1864 births 1910 deaths People from Mayenne 19th-century French novelists 20th-century French novelists 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights French male novelists 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights French male short story writers 19th-century French short story writers 19th-century French male writers 20th-century French short story writers 20th-century French male writers Anti-clericals