The Sphinx-riddle. Solve it, or be torn to bits, is the decree.

For us to go to Italy and to penetrate into Italy is like a most fascinating act of self-discovery

It grew late. Through the open door, stealthily, came the scent of madonna lilies, almost as if it were prowling abroad.

It's not art for art's sake, it's art for my sake.

I am part of the sun as my eye is of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea.

They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.

The east is not for me--the sensuous spiritual voluptuousness, the curious sensitiveness of the naked people, their black, bottomless, hopeless eyes.