We grow hostile to many an artist or writer, not because we finally come to see he has deceived us, but because he thought no subtler means were required to ensnare us.

Sins are indispensable to every society organized on an ecclesiastical basis; they are the only reliable weapons of power; the priest lives upon sins; it is necessary to him that there be sinning.

It is obvious that all sense has gone out of modern marriage; which is, however, no objection to marriage but to modernity.

To discover he is loved in return ought really to disenchant the lover with the beloved.

Whom do you call bad?--Those who always want to induce shame.

When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.

If a man wishes to become a hero, then the serpent must first become a dragon: otherwise he lacks his proper enemy.