At fifteen, beauty and talent do not exist; there can only be promise of the coming woman.

In the silence of their studios, busied for days at a time with works which leave the mind relatively free, painters become like women; their thoughts can revolve around the minor facts of life and penetrate their hidden meaning.

Life in clubs is no paltry sign of the times we live in. Here gentlemen gamble with others whom they would not dream of inviting to their homes.

It is very difficult to pass from pleasure to work. Accordingly more poems have been swallowed up by sorrow than ever happiness caused to blaze forth in unparalleled radiance.

Tradesmen regard an author with a mixed feeling of terror, compassion and curiosity.

A man wastes his time going to hear some of our eloquent modern preachers; they may change his opinions, but never his conduct.

The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed.