The written word has taught me to listen to the human voice, much as the great unchanging statues have taught me to appreciate bodily motions.

Cruelty is the luxury of those who have nothing to do, like drugs or racing stables.

He had reached that moment in life, different for each one of us, when a man abandonds himself to his demon or to his genius, following a mysterious law which bids him either to destroy or outdo himself.

The mask, given time, comes to be the face itself

I have come to think that great men are characterized precisely by the extreme position which they take, and that their heroism consists in holding to that extremity throughout their lives.

Every invalid is a prisoner.

A touch of madness is, I think, almost always necessary for constructing a destiny.