By nature, by necessity itself, [primitive man] is encyclopedic, while civilized man finds himself confined in the infinitely small regions of specialization.

To be a great man and a saint to oneself, that's the only important thing.

Imagination is an almost divine faculty which, without recourse to any philosophical method, immediately perceives everything: the secret and intimate connections between things, correspondences and analogies.

Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony.

It is at despair at not being able to be noble and beautiful by natural means that we have made up our faces so strangely.

What is exhilarating in bad taste is the aristocratic pleasure of giving offense.

What is art? Prostitution.