Art consists precisely in making us admire old stories, charming us with them eternally, as Nature charms with her eternal sun, her ancient earth, and her men built all on the same pattern, and all animated by the same feelings.

Art ... is as much a source of happiness for the beginner as for the master. One forgets everything in one's work.

What am I? Nothing. What would I be? Everything.

Art just consists in making us swallow the commonplaces by charming us eternally.

Time is the most terrible, the most discouraging, the most unconquerable of all obstacles, and one that may exist when no other does.

Art consists precisely in making us admire old stories, charming us with them eternally, as Nature charms with her eternal sun, her ancient earth, and her men built all on the same pattern, and all animated by the same feelings.

... I will never love, for I should never be loved as I desire to be loved.