My business is to be talented, that is, to be capable of selecting the important moments from the trivial ones. . . . It's about time for writers - particularly those who are genuine artists - to recognize that in this world you cannot figure out everything. Just have a writer who the crowds trust be courageous enough and declare that he does not understand everything, and that alone will represent a major contribution to the way people think, a long leap forward.

Never bring a cannon on stage in Act I unless you intend to fire it by the last act.

People should be beautiful in every way - in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts, and in their innermost selves.

Just as I shall lie alone in the grave, so, in essence, do I live alone.

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

Every coming year is as bad as the previous one, the only difference being that in most cases it is even worse.

Dear and most respected bookcase! I welcome your existence, which has for over one hundred years been devoted to the radiant ideals of goodness and justice.