“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 and to the singing of a bird outside his window and to the far-away voice of the sea.”

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 88.

As quoted in Carolyn Warner, The Last Word : A Treasury of Women's Quotes (1992), p. 147,

from Non-resistance or struggle http://tsiolkovsky.org/en/the-cosmic-philosophy/non-resistance-or-struggle-1935/ -- a manuscript written in 1935

Said of Napoleon (1842), "Discours de réception a L'Académie Française prononcé le 21 Avril 1842" Oeuvres complètes, vol. IX, p. 17 http://books.google.com/books?id=kIsdAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA17&dq=%22Il+%C3%A9tait+aussi+grand+qu%E2%80%99un+homme+puisse+l%E2%80%99%C3%AAtre+sans+la+vertu%22
Original text :
Il était aussi grand qu'un homme puisse l'être sans la vertu.
1840s

A Letter from Cuba (1934)

Credo (1965)
Context: I believe that none can "save" his fellow man by making a choice for him. To help him, he can indicate the possible alternatives, with sincerity and love, without being sentimental and without illusion. The knowledge and awareness of the freeing alternatives can reawaken in an individual all his hidden energies and put him on the path to choosing respect for "life" instead of for "death."

English note by the hand of the poet in the same paper sheet: Your poems are of interest to mankind; your liver isn't. Drink till you write well and feel sick. Bless your poems and be damned to you.
Ibid., p. 229
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Se um homem escreve bem só quando está bêbado dir-lhe-ei: embebede-se- E se ele me disser que o seu fígado sofre com isso, respondo: o que é o seu fígado? É uma coisa morta que vive enquanto você vive, e os poemas que escrever vivem sem enquanto.

Interludes, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Source: Charmed Thirds