... it is true that I do not respect [human life] more than I respect my own life. And if it is easy for me to kill, that is because it is difficult for me to die.

In order to be created, a work of art must first make use of the dark forces of the soul

It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.

The French Revolution gave birth to no artists but only to a great journalist, Desmoulins, and to an under-the-counter writer, Sade. The only poet of the times was the guillotine.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

What the world requires of the Christians is that they should continue to be Christians.

I know myself too well to believe in pure virtue.