A litterateur is not a confectioner, not a dealer in cosmetics, not an entertainer. . . . He is just like an ordinary reporter. What would you say if a newspaper reporter, because of his fastidiousness or from a wish to give pleasure to his readers, were to describe only honest mayors, high-minded ladies, and virtuous railroad contractors.

If in the first act you introduce a gun, by the third act you have to use it.

A woman is fascinated not by art but by the noise made by those in the field.

You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.

It's very hard, feeling that you're no more than a piece of unwanted furniture in this world.

Better to perish from fools than to accept praises from them.

And only now, when he was gray-haired, had he fallen in love properly, thoroughly, for the first time in his life.