Despite all the progress of civilization, women have remained exactly as they emerged from the hand of Nature.

Desire followed the glance, pleasure followed desire

The struggle of the spirit against the senses is the gospel of modern man. I do not wish to have any part in it.

Every woman has the instinct, the propensity to profit from her charms, and there's a lot to be said for giving oneself without love, without pleasure.

Alas, woman is faithful as long as she loves, but you demand that she be faithful without love and give herself without enjoyment. Who is cruel then, woman or man?

There is no describing the feeling of being mistreated by a successful rival in front of the woman you worship.

Until then I had lived as I had painted and versified - that is, I never got far beyond priming canvas, beyond penning an outline, a first act, a first stanza. There are simply people who start all sorts of things and yet never finish any of them. And that was the kind of person I was.