Calculating selfishness is the annihilation of self.

One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.

The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out, just as Socrates once admitted it, just as Voltaire admitted it.

You've only got to begin to do anything to find out how few honest, honourable people there are. Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I think: "Oh Lord, you've given us huge forests, infinite fields, and endless horizons, and we, living here, ought really to be giants.

Write only of what is important and eternal.

The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.

My mistress has come home; at last I've seen her. Now I'm ready to die.