Vanity is the quicksand of reason.

I needn't tell you that success and failure prove nothing - the whole thing is a lottery. It's pleasant to succeed; but for a philosophic mind it oughtn't to be very upsetting to fail.

Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for.

Our work can never be better than we are ourselves.

I have no enthusiasm for nature which the slightest chill will not instantly destroy.

almost all novels are love stories.

The publication of a book only brings very paltry results to its author.