Anybody can lead a frivolous life. A frivolous writer, however, must have taste and intelligence.
The more learned a writer, the more digression beckons him.
Lead the reader toward the thought, then stop a little short.
To avoid taking responsibility, I become unresponsive but hang on until the other person leaves me.
If everything had a label, we would live in a fully delineated but false world.
Men and women would be even more unhappy if they really understood one another.
The more knowledge, the clearer what the doubts are.
Now that I see you understand me so well, I will avoid you.
We worship the aesthetic, but we do not have faith in it.
The Muses inspire art and pretend not to notice when Mammon buys it.
Critics are more committed to the rules of art than artists are.
Rule of art: let half-blind purpose lead you.
Art chooses its constraints.
A work of art is an echo chamber which repeats what people say about it.
Without a little negligence, life would be intolerable.
When love ends, the beloved is no longer standing on a pedestal, but in a hole.
Falling in love is the right adventure for those who dislike sports and travel.
The lion cares less about being king of the beasts than about finding his dinner.
Power makes gods. Virtue makes martyrs.
Everyone values the good nature of a man with a gun.