No encounter occured that day, and I was glad of it; I took out of my pocket a little Homer I had not opened since leaving Marseilles, reread three lines of the Odyssey, learned them by heart; then, finding sufficient sustenance in their rhythm and reveling in them at leisure, I closed the book and remained, trembling, more alive than I had thought possible, my mind numb with happiness.

Understand that the only possession of any value is life.

I have never produced anything good except by a long succession of slight efforts.

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.

The great artist is one whom constraint exalts, for whom the obstacle is a springboard.

True eloquence forgoes eloquence.