“All noble enthusiasms pass through a feverish stage, and grow wiser and more serene.”

“Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw
-- The Trees (1978)”

“Curiosity and enthusiasm to learn and grow”

“People like Truffaut, Lelouch and Godard are like little kids playing at being revolutionaries. I've passed through this stage.”

“It lays down, as is generally known, that our speculations upon all subjects whatsoever, pass necessarily through three successive stages: a Theological stage, in which free play is given to spontaneous fictions admitting of no proof; the Metaphysical stage, characterized by the prevalence of personified abstractions or entities; lastly, the Positive stage, based upon an exact view of the real facts of the case.”

“Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.”

“All the world's a stage we're going through.”

“Most men have no purpose but to exist, Abraham; to pass quietly through history as minor characters upon a stage they cannot even see”

“You know how easily things grow out of nothing, when they pass through a mouth that smears them all over and makes something else out of them”

“It will pass, it will all pass, we're going to be so happy! If our love could grow any stronger it would grow stronger because there is something horrifying in it”