For passion, be it observed, brings insight with it; it can give a sort of intelligence to simpletons, fools, and idiots, especially during youth.

To have one's mother-in-law in the country when one lives in Paris, and vice versa, is one of those strokes of luck that one encounters only too rarely.

The more illegal a profit, the more tenaciously a man clings to it.

Ideas devour the ages as men are devoured by their passions. When man is cured, human nature will cure itself perhaps.

The best painters, as they progress in reputation and towards perfection, are found to dispense more and more with the technique of the art, for simpler methods. Simplicity never fails to charm.

There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.

I prefer thought to action, an idea to a transaction, contemplation to activity.