There is no virtue if there is no immortality.

The prince says that the world will be saved by beauty! And I maintain that the reason he has such playful ideas is that he is in love.

Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering.

If it were considered desirable to destroy a human being, the only thing necessary would be to give his work a character of uselessness

A true friend of mankind whose heart has but once quivered in compassion over the sufferings of the people, will understand and forgive all the impassable alluvial filth in which they are submerged, and will be able to discover the diamonds in the filth.

I want peace; yes, I'd sell the whole world for a farthing, straight off, so long as I was left in peace. Is the world to go to pot, or am I to go without my tea? I say that the world may go to pot for me so long as I always get my tea. Did you know that, or not? Well, anyway, I know that I am a blackguard, a scoundrel, an egoist, a sluggard.

But what are years, what are months!" he would exclaim. "Why count the days, when even one day is enough for man to know all happiness.