Only passions, and great passions, can raise the soul to great things. Without them there is no sublimity, either in morals or in creativity. Art returns to infancy, and virtue becomes small-minded.

You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.

Scepticism is the first step towards truth.

One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it

It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.

First move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.

They mistake the first manifestations of a developing sexual nature for the voice of God calling them to Himself; and it is precisely when nature is inciting them that they embrace a fashion of life contrary to nature's wish.