The Art of Love: knowing how to combine the temperament of a vampire with the discretion of an anemone.

What does the future, that half of time, matter to the man who is infatuated with eternity?

One hardly saves a world without ruling it.

When people come to me saying they want to kill themselves, I tell them, "What’s your rush? You can kill yourself any time you like. So calm down. Suicide is a positive act." And they do calm down.

If each of us were to confess his most secret desire, the one that inspires all his plans, all his actions, he would say: "I want to be praised."

Ideas should be neutral. But man animates them with his passions and folly. Impure and turned into beliefs, they take on the appearance of reality. The passage from logic is consummated. Thus are born ideologies, doctrines, and bloody farce.

Every thought should recall the ruin of a smile.