The more you approach infinity, the deeper you penetrate terror

One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels.

The idea of bringing someone into the world fills me with horror. I would curse myself if I were a father. A son of mine! Oh no, no, no! May my entire flesh perish and may I transmit to no one the aggravations and the disgrace of existence.

The finest works of art are those in which there is the least matter. The closer expression comes to thought, the more the word clings to the idea and disappears, the more beautiful the work of art.

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.

For him the universe did not extend beyond the circumference of her petticoat.

Caught up in life, you see it badly. You suffer from it or enjoy it too much. The artist, in my opinion, is a monstrosity, something outside of nature.