So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.

The trouble with fiction," said John Rivers, "is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.

The gods are just. No doubt. But their code of law is dictated, in the last resort, by the people who organize society; Providence takes its cue from men.

These are the sort of things people ought to look at. Things without pretensions, satisfied to be merely themselves.

Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes; and thanks to words, we have often sunk to the level of the demons.

Art is one of the means whereby man seeks to redeem a life which is experienced as chaotic, senseless, and largely evil.

Europe is so well gardened that it resembles a work of art, a scientific theory, a neat metaphysical system. Man has re-created Europe in his own image.