From the moment absurdity is recognized, it becomes a passion, the most harrowing of all. But whether or not one can live with one's passions, whether or not one can accept their law, which is to burn the heart they simultaneously exalt - that is the whole question.

Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.

No doubt our love was still there, but quite simply it was unusable, heavy to carry, inert inside of us, sterile as crime or condemnation. It was no longer anything except a patience with no future and a stubborn wait.

Every man needs slaves like he needs clean air. To rule is to breathe, is it not? And even the most disenfranchised get to breathe. The lowest on the social scale have their spouses or their children.

I was comfortable in all, I admit, but at the same time, nothing satisfied me. Each joy made me seek another.

The work of art is born of the intelligence's refusal to reason the concrete. It marks the triumph of the carnal.

It's not your pictures I like; it's your painting.