I've never been in love. I've dreamt of it day and night, but my heart is like a fine piano no one can play because the key is lost.

Ah, Caviar! I keep on eating it, but can never get my fill. Like olives. It's a lucky thing it's not salty.

I was oppressed with a sense of vague discontent and dissatisfaction with my own life, which was passing so quickly and uninterestingly, and I kept thinking it would be a good thing if I could tear my heart out of my breast, that heart which had grown so weary of life.

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

I should like to meet a philosopher like Nietzsche somewhere in a train or a steamer, and to spend the whole night talking to him. I consider his philosophy won't last long, however. It's more showy than convincing.

In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations!

A sweet lie is more gracious for us than a virulent but real truth.