The man who would emancipate art from discipline and reason is trying to elude rationality, not merely in art, but in all existence.

The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who have loved it.

My remembrance of the past is a novel I am constantly recomposing; and it would not be a historical novel, but sheer fiction, if the material events which mark and ballast my career had not their public dates and characters scientifically discoverable.

The same battle in the clouds will be known to the deaf only as lightning and to the blind only as thunder.

Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.

It would hardly be possible to exaggerate man's wretchedness if it were not so easy to overestimate his sensibility

To be happy you must have taken the measure of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world.