In the domain of painting and statuary, the present-day credo of the worldly wise, especially in France, is this: ... I believe that art is, and can only be, the exact reproduction of nature... An avenging God has heard the prayers of this multitude; Daguerre was his messiah.

Love is the natural occupation of the man of leisure.

There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create.

There are as many kinds of beauty as there are habitual ways of seeking happiness.

Genius is childhood recalled at will.

I have cultivated my hysteria with pleasure and terror.

Within the bottle's depths, the wine's soul sang one night. Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.