The relation between life and literature - a final antimony - is one of mutual plagiarism.

The only form of action open to a child is to break something or strike someone, its mother or another child; it cannot cause things to happen in the world.

Scratch a socialist and you find a snob.

All ideas advanced to deal with the Florentine noise problem, the Florentine traffic problem, are Utopian, and nobody believes in them, just as nobody believed in Machiavelli's Prince, a Utopian image of the ideally self-interested despot.

... the average Catholic perceives no connection between religion and morality, unless it is a question of someone else's morality.

For self-realization, a rebel demands a strong authority, a worthy opponent, God to his Lucifer.

The erotic element always present in fashion, the kiss of loving labor on the body, is now overtly expressed by language. Belts hug or clasp; necklines plunge; jerseys bind. The word exciting tingles everywhere.