Nothing is so silly as the expression of a man who is being complimented.

How do you know that the fruit is ripe? Simply because it leaves the branch.

Every instant of our lives is essentially irreplaceable: you must know this in order to concentrate on life.

Mozart's joy is made of serenity, and a phrase of his music is like a calm thought; his simplicity is merely purity. It is a crystalline thing in which all the emotions play a role, but as if already celestially transposed. Moderation consists in feeling emotions as the angels do.

Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

The most subtle art, the strongest and deepest art - supreme art - is the one that does not at first allow itself to be recognized.

Pay attention only to the form; emotion will come spontaneously to inhabit it. A perfect dwelling always finds an inhabitant. The artist's business is to build the dwelling; as for the inhabitant, it is up to the reader to provide him.