As a general truth, it is safe to say that any picture that produces a moral impression is a bad picture.

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

Barbarism is needed every four or five hundred years to bring the world back to life. Otherwise it would die of civilization.

I feel sure that coups d'état would go much better if there were seats, boxes, and stalls so that one could see what was happening and not miss anything.

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

The English are crooked as a nation and honest as individuals. The contrary is true of the French, who are honest as a nation and crooked as individuals.

A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs it while playing a violin.