I consider it useless and tedious to represent what exists, because nothing that exists satisfies me. Nature is ugly, and I prefer the monsters of my fancy to what is positively trivial.

What can an eternity of damnation matter to someone who has felt, if only for a second, the infinity of delight?

Blessed art Thou, Lord, who giveth suffering As a divine remedy for our impurities.

The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.

I consider it useless and tedious to represent what exists, because nothing that exists satisfies me. Nature is ugly, and I prefer the monsters of my fancy to what is positively trivial.

Any newspaper, from the first line to the last, is nothing but a web of horrors, I cannot understand how an innocent hand can touch a newspaper without convulsing in disgust.

It is necessary to work, if not from inclination, at least from despair. Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.