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.

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

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.

One mustn't look at the abyss, because there is at the bottom an inexpressible charm which attracts us.

Oh, if I had been loved at the age of seventeen, what an idiot I would be today. Happiness is like smallpox: if you catch it too soon, it can completely ruin your constitution.

To see one's name in print! Some people commit a crime for no other reason.

A good sentence in prose should be like a good line in poetry, unchangeable, as rhythmic, as sonorous.