We possess art lest we perish of the truth.

He who does not need to lie is proud of not being a liar.

Writers ought to be regarded as wrongdoers who deserve to be acquitted or pardoned only in the rarest cases: that would be a way to keep books from getting out of hand.

When one does away with oneself one does the most estimable thing possible: one thereby almost deserves to live.

What? You seek something? You wish to multiply yourself tenfold, a hundredfold? You seek followers? Seek zeros!

The man who sees little always sees less than there is to see; the man who hears badly always hears something more than there is to hear.

Praise is more obtrusive than a reproach.