Irony is the form of paradox. Paradox is what is good and great at the same time.

When the author has no idea of what to reply to a critic, he then likes to say: you could not do it better anyway. This is the same as if a dogmatic philosopher reproached a skeptic for not being able to devise a system.

Gracefulness is a correct life: sensuality which contemplates and forms itself.

The life of the artist should be distinguished from that of all other people, even in external habits. They are Brahmins, a higher caste, not ennobled by birth, however, but through deliberate self-initiation.

True love should be, according to its origin, entirely arbitrary and entirely accidental at the same time; it should seem both necessary and free; in keeping with its nature, however, it should be both destiny and virtue and appear as a mystery and a miracle.

As the ancient commander addressed his soldiers before battle, so should the moralist speak to men in the struggle of the era.

To disrespect the masses is moral; to honor them, lawful.