I have come to have the firm conviction that vanity is the basis of everything, and finally that what one calls conscience is only inner vanity.

As you get older, the heart shed its leaves like a tree. You cannot hold out against certain winds. Each day tears away a few more leaves; and then there are the storms that break off several branches at one go. And while nature’s greenery grows back again in the spring, that of the heart never grows back.

Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.

Judge the goodness of a book by the energy of the punches it has given you. I believe the greatest characteristic of genius, is, above all, force.

Coffee: Induces wit. Good only if it comes through Havre. After a big dinner party it is taken standing up. Take it without sugar - very swank: gives the impression you have lived in the East.

The public wants work which flatters its illusions.

Me and my books in the same apartment, like a gherkin in its vinegar.