You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it-it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk. But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.

We all have the republican spirit in our veins, like syphilis in our bones. We are democratized and venerealized.

You are sitting and smoking; you believe that you are sitting in your pipe, and that your pipe is smoking you; you are exhaling yourself in bluish clouds. You feel just fine in this position, and only one thing gives you worry or concern: how will you ever be able to get out of your pipe?

What is irritating about love is that it is a crime that requires an accomplice.

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

A man who drinks only water has a secret to hide from his fellow men.

My soul travels on the smell of perfume like the souls of other men on music.