The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection -even though nothing more than the pounding of an old piano -is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.

Thank heavens, the sun has gone in and I don’t have to go out and enjoy it.

Every author, however modest, keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a madman in the padded cell of his breast.

Only those who get into scrapes with their eyes open can find the safe way out.

What joy can the years bring half so sweet as the unhappiness they've taken away?

When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.

He who goes against the fashion is himself its slave