Stupidity consists in wanting to reach conclusions. We are a thread, and we want to know the whole cloth.

Writing this book I am like a man playing the piano with lead balls attached to his knuckles.

Since you are now studying geometry and trigonometry, I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre. The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing East-North-East, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain?

Woman is a vulgar animal from whom man has created an excessively beautiful ideal.

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

Sentences must stir in a book like leaves in a forest, each distinct from each despite their resemblance.

When you reduce a woman to writing, she makes you think of a thousand other women