There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries.

Historians tell the story of the past, novelists the story of the present.

Genius is the talent of a person who is dead.

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.

Laughter is the mind's intonation. There are ways of laughing which have the sound of counterfeit coins.

I have always derived indescribable pleasure from leading a decent woman to the edge of sin and leaving her there to live between the temptation and the fear of that sin.

Surely nothing has to listen to so many stupid remarks as a painting in a museum.