The lessons of experience are always learned too late.

And I refused to make any sacrifices; for nothing on earth seemed more valuable than my peace of mind, my pleasure and my acclaim.

Butterflies are but flowers that blew away one sunny day when Nature was feeling at her most inventive and fertile.

I loved [fairy stories] so, and my mother weighed down by grief had given up telling me them. At Nohant I found Mmes. d'Ardony's and Perrault's tales in old editions which became my chief joy for five or six years ... I've never read them since, but I could tell each tale straight through, and I don't think anything in all one's intellecutal life can be compared to these delights of imagination.

When I tried to draw near, you dissolved into air before my lips could touch you...

Sex is the most respectable and holy thing in all creation, the most serious act in life.

Vanity is the quicksand of reason.