Tout ce qu'on invente est vrai, soi-en sure. La poesie est une chose aussi precise que la geometrie.

One day, I shall explode like an artillery shell and all my bits will be found on the writing table.

It seems to me that I have always existed and that I possess memories that date back to the Pharaohs.

That man has missed something who has never left a brothel at sunrise feeling like throwing himself into the river out of pure disgust.

I don't believe that happiness is possible, but I think tranquility is.

Mediocrity cherishes rules; as for me, I hate them; I feel for them and for every restriction, corporation, caste, hierarchy, level, herd, a loathing which fills my soul, and it is in this respect perhaps that I understand martyrdom.

In her enthusiasms she had always looked for something tangible: she had always loved church for its flowers, music for its romantic words, literature for its power to stir the passions and she rebelled before the mysteries of faith just as she grew ever more restive under discipline, which was antipathetic to her nature.