May I die like a dog rather than hasten the ripening of a sentence by a single second!

I had, as I told you, a great passion while still almost a child. When it was over, I divided myself in two, placing on one side the soul I kept for Art, and on the other, my body, which would have to fend for itself.

I have patience in all things - as far as the antechamber.

Of all possible debauches, traveling is the greatest that I know; that's the one they invented when they got tired of all the others.

Adultery ... could be as banal as marriage.

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it

In my view, the novelist has no right to express his opinions on the things of this world. In creating, he must imitate God: do his job and then shut up.