Talent is often a defect in character.

It is a mystery to me how a theologian can be praised for having brought himself to disbelieve dogmas. I've always thought that those who have brought themselves to believe in dogmas merit the true recognition owing a heroic deed.

Solitude would be ideal if you could pick the people to avoid.

To write a novel may be pure pleasure. To live a novel presents certain difficulties. As for reading a novel, I do my best to get out of it.

Keep your passions in check, but beware of giving your reason free rein.

I saw a poet chase a butterfly in a meadow. He put his net on a bench where a boy sat reading a book. It's a misfortune that it is usually the other way round.

The trouble with Germans is not that they fire shells, but that they engrave them with quotations from Kant.