A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks about himself.

The future is a convenient place for dreams.

God, conquered, will become Satan; Satan, conquering, will become God. May the fates spare me this terrible lot; I love the Hell which formed my genius. I love the Earth where I have done some good, if it be possible to do any good in this fearful world where beings live but by rapine.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.

For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.

It is not easy to be a pretty woman without causing mischief.