German civility, which often seems stiff to us, shows an attentive and touching respect for the person that I often prefer to our offhandedness.

The sight or sound of perfect things causes a certain suffering.

For the last six or seven years the circus has no longer been in fashion. That is a pity. One should go to the circus, beyond any question of fashion, at least one or two times a year-I am not speaking here to the real enthusiasts, they know better than I what they have to do.

It matters less to venerate things than to live with them on terms of good friendship.

I can easily do without people (there are days when I could easily do without myself), and ... in the country of books where I dwell, the dead can count entirely as much as the living.

Abstract art: a construction site for high fashion, for advertising, for furniture.

Our present-day artists do not transform, they deform. That gives pleasure to nobody. It changes everything, therefore it changes nothing.