Give me the artist who breathes it like a native, and goes about his work in it as quietly as a common man goes about his ordinary business. Mozart did so; and that is why I like him. Even if I did not, I should pretend to; for a taste in his music is a mark of caste among musicians, and should be worn, like a tall hat, by the amateur who wishes to pass for a true Brahmin.

NAPOLEON: What shall we do with this soldier, Giuseppe? Everything he says is wrong. GIUSEPPE: Make him a general, Excellency, and then everything he says will be right.

If you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven.

All progress depends upon the unreasonable person.

Consistency is the enemy of enterprise, just as symmetry is the enemy of art.

Never believe anything a writer tells you about himself. A man comes to believe in the end the lies he tells himself about himself.

It is ridiculous to say that art has nothing to do with morality. What is true is that the artist's business is not that of the policeman.