I have no use for the kind of God who goes walking in his garden with a stick, sends his friends to live in the bellies of whales, gives up the ghost with a groan and then comes back to life three days later!

The principal thing in this world is to keep one's soul aloft.

The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.

I like prostitution. My heart has never failed to pound at the sight of one of those provocatively dressed women walking in the rain under the gaslamps, just as the sight of monks in their robes and girdles touches some ascetic, hidden corner of my soul.

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

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

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.