Nations, like families, have great men only in spite of themselves.

I am bored in France because everyone resembles Voltaire.

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

I should like the fields tinged with red, the rivers yellow and the trees painted blue. Nature has no imagination.

This industry [photography], by invading the territories of art, has become art's most mortal enemy.

It is easy to understand why the rabble dislike cats. A cat is beautiful; it suggests ideas of luxury, cleanliness, voluptuous pleasures.

If a given combination of trees, mountains, water, and houses, say a landscape, is beautiful, it is not so by itself, but because of me, of my favor, of the idea or feeling I attach to it.