She was a sweet girl but not really pretty, a rough sketch of a woman with a little of everything in her, one of those silhouettes which artists draw in three strokes on the tablecloth in a café after dinner, between a glass of brandy and a cigarette. Nature sometimes turns out creatures like that.

Whatever you want to say, there is only one word to express it, only one verb to give it movement, only one adjective to qualify it.

We live always under the weight of the old and odious customs... of our barbarous ancestors.

To contest an author's right to create a poetic or realistic work is to want to force him to change his temperament, challenge his originality, refuse to allow him to use the eye and the intelligence nature has given him.

Abstinence is the worst form of perversion.

The glasses were half full, which meant that the guests were completely so

The great artists are those who impose their personal vision upon humanity.