The beautiful is always bizarre.

It is regrettable that, among the Rights of Man, the right of contradicting oneself has been forgotten.

In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men.

I am unable to understand how a man of honor could take a newspaper in his hands without a shudder of disgust.

The dandy should aspire to be uninterruptedly sublime. He should live and sleep in front of a mirror.

The pleasure we derive from the representation of the present is due, not only to the beauty it can be clothed in, but also to its essential quality of being the present.

Soon we will plunge ourselves into cold shadows, and all of summer's stunning afternoons will be gone. I already hear the dead thuds of logs below falling on the cobblestones and the lawn.