One can only become a philosopher, but not be one. As one believes he is a philosopher, he stops being one.

Those works whose ideal has not as much living reality and, as it were, personality as the beloved one or a friend had better remain unwritten. They would at least never become works of art.

Just as a child is really a thing that wants to become a man, so is the poem an object of nature that wants to become an object ofart.

With respect to ingenious subconsciousness, I think, philosophers might well rival poets.

There are three kinds of explanation in science: explanations which throw a light upon, or give a hint at a matter; explanations which do not explain anything; and explanations which obscure everything.

In order to be able to write well upon a subject, one must have ceased to be interested in it; the thought which is to be soberlyexpressed must already be entirely past and no longer be one's actual concern.

Wit as an instrument of revenge is as infamous as art is as a means of sensual titillation.