Feminine passion is to masculine as an epic is to an epigram.

In the theater one must sit in such a way that one sees the audience as a dark mass. Then it cannot bother one more than it does an actor. Nothing is more disturbing than being able to distinguish individuals in the crowd.

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.

To me it's still a greater miracle when a fly flies than when a human being undertakes to do so.

My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.

The triumph of morality: A thief who has broken into a bedroom claims his sense of shame had been outraged, and by threatening theoccupants with exposure of an immoral act he blackmails them into not bringing charges for burglary.