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.

You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.

Casting aspersions on those we love always does something to loosen our ties. We shouldn't maltreat our idols: the gilt comes off on our hands.

Concern for morality makes every work of the imagination false and stupid.

Women want you to deceive them: they force you to, and if you resist, they blame you.

One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.

Put all your rage and madness into your work and live as orderly a life as possible.