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.

Every man--I know this--turns weak, pliant, ridiculous as soon as he's in love.

You are cold, while you yourself fan flames.

A real apple is more beautiful than a painted one, and a live woman is more beautiful than a Venus of stone.

A slap in the face is more effective than ten lectures. It makes you understand very quickly.

Whoever allows himself to be whipped, deserves to be whipped.

Be then my slave, and know what it means to be delivered into the hands of a woman.