Look for the ridiculous in everything and you will find it.

It is easy for a somebody to be modest, but it is difficult to be modest when one is a nobody.

An egotist always resents meeting another egotist as if he alone had the right to be one.

Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.

Clarity is the politeness of the man of letters.

Life is what our character makes it. We fashion it, as a snail does its shell. A man can say: I never made a fortune because it is not in my character to be rich.

It astounds us to come upon other egoists, as though we alone had the right to be selfish, and to be filled with eagerness to live.