The belief in authority is the source of conscience; which is therefore not the voice of God in the heart of man, but the voice of some men in man.

As refined fare serves a hungry man as well as and no better than coarser food, the more pretentious artist will not dream of inviting the hungry man to his meal.

Has anyone...any distinct notion of what poets of a stronger age understood by the word inspiration? ... There is an ecstasy such that the immese strain of it is sometimes relaxed by a flood of tears, along with which one's steps either rush or involuntarily lag, alternately. There is the feeling that one is completely out of hand, with the very distinct consciousness of an endless number of fine thrills and quiverings to the very toes... Everything happens quite involuntarily, as if in a tempestuous outburst of freedom, of absoluteness, of power and divinity.

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

One can also be undignified and flattering toward a virtue.

Belief in truth begins with doubting all that has hitherto been believed to be true.

I hate who steals my solitude, without really offer me in exchange company.