As for what I have done as a poet, I take no pride in whatever. Excellent poets have lived at the same time with me, poets more excellent lived before me, and others will come after me. But that in my country I am the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colors-of that, I say, I am not a little proud, and here have a consciousness of superiority to many.

The world is so full of simpletons and madmen, that one need not seek them in a madhouse.

Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.

There is no better deliverance from the world than through art, and a man can form no surer bond with it.

It is one of Heaven's best gifts to hold such a dear creature in one's arms.

All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.

Tolerance should really be only a temporary attitude; it must lead to recognition. To tolerate means to offend.