The religious superstition is encouraged by means of the institution of churches, processions, monuments, festivities....The so-called clergy stupefy the masses....They befog the people and keep them in an eternal condition of stupefaction.

The activity of art is... as important as the activity of language itself, and as universal.

In order to carry through any undertaking in family life, there must necessarily be either complete division between the husband and wife, or loving agreement. When the relations of a couple are vacillating and neither one thing nor the other, no sort of enterprise can be undertake. Many families remain for years in the same place, though both husband and wife are sick of it, simply because there is neither complete division nor agreement between them.

Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know.

I prefer a good pair of boots to Shakespeare.

She did not want to talk of her sorrow, but with that sorrow in her heart she could not talk of outside matters.

Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.