I like to walk down Bond Street, thinking of all the things I don't desire.

Happiness is a wine of the rarest vintage, and seems insipid to a vulgar taste.

There are people who, like houses, are beautiful in dilapidation.

Don't let young people tell you their aspirations; when they drop them they will drop you.

One's own vanities and humiliations I find a delicious subject for conversation. Things said of me behind my back I don't enjoy, and don't listen to them.

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

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.