One can translate an editorial but not a poem. For one can go across the border naked but not without one's skin; for, unlike clothes, one cannot get a new skin.

A child learns to discard his ideals, whereas a grown-up never wears out his short pants.

Virginity is the ideal of those who want to deflower.

Talent is often a defect in character.

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.

Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.

Someone who can write aphorisms should not fritter away his time in essays.