Is it our job to judge? The gendarme, policemen and bureaucrats have been especially prepared by fate for that job. Our job is towrite, and only to write.

If I were asked to chose between execution and life in prison I would, of course, chose the latter. It's better to live somehow than not at all.

Write only of what is important and eternal.

I don't like being successful; the subjects which sit in my head are annoyed and jealous of what has already been written.

Flies purify the air, and plays - the morals.

It's easier to write about Socrates than about a young woman or a cook.

Dear, sweet, unforgettable childhood! Why does this irrevocable time, forever departed, seem brighter, more festive and richer than it actually was?