To have to fight the instincts - that is the definition of decadence: as long as life is ascending, happiness equals instinct.

A man far oftener appears to have a decided character from persistently following his temperament than from persistently following his principles.

Behold! I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that has gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to take it from me. I wish to spread it and bestow it, until the wise have once more become joyous in their folly, and the poor happy in their riches.

Mastery.- We have reached mastery when we neither mistake nor hesitate in the achievement.

Men seldom persevere in a vocation unless they believe or can convince themselves that it is fundamentally more important than anyother calling. Women are the same with their lovers.

Again and again I am brought up against it, and again and again I resist it: I don't want to believe it, even though it is almost palpable: the vast majority lack an intellectual conscience; indeed, it often seems to me that to demand such a thing is to be in the most populous cities as solitary as in the desert.

We have art in order not to die of the truth.