Success is a consequence and must not be a goal. I've never sought it (though I desire it) and seek it less and less.

The style, which is something I take to heart, is getting on my nerves horribly. It frustrates and torments me. I have days when Iam sick about it and nights when it gives me a fever. The more I go at it the more I find myself incapable of conveying the Idea.

He had the vanity to believe men did not like him – while men simply did not know him.

Let us not kid ourselves; let us remember that literature is of no use whatever, except in the very special case of somebody's wishing to become, of all things, a Professor of Literature.

The great natures which are good, are above everything generous and don't begrudge the giving of themselves.

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.

Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.