The great question in life is the suffering we cause, and the most ingenious metaphysics do not justify the man who has broken the heart that loved him.

No duty, however, binds us to these so-called laws, whose corrupting influence menaces what is noblest in our being.

The great question in life is the suffering we cause, and the most ingenious metaphysics do not justify the man who has broken the heart that loved him.

Every time government attempts to handle our affairs, it costs more and the results are worse than if we had handled them ourselves.

Woe to the man who in the first moments of a love-affair does not believe that it will last forever! Woe to him who even in the arms of some mistress who has just yielded to him maintains an awareness of trouble to come and foresees that he may later tear himself away!

There are things one does not say for a long time, but, once they are said, one never stops repeating them.

Art for art's sake, with no purpose, for any purpose perverts art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own. (1804)