In his younger days a man dreams of possessing the heart of the woman whom he loves; later, the feeling that he possesses the heart of a woman may be enough to make him fall in love with her.

The human plagiarism which is most difficult to avoid, for individuals... is the plagiarism of ourselves.

Even from the simplest, the most realistic point of view, the countries which we long for occupy, at any given moment, a far larger place in our actual life than the country in which we happen to be.

A picture's beauty does not depend on the things portrayed in it.

We feel in one world, we think and name in another. Between the two we can set up a system of references, but we cannot fill in the gap.

We are at times too ready to believe that the present is the only possible state of things.

Let a prize lower my position, if it causes me to be read; that I prefer immediately to all the honors.