If someone tells you he is going to make a 'realistic decision', you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.

Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the."

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.

This grossly advertised wonder [Venice], this gold idol with clay feet, this trompe-l'oeil, this painted deception, this cliche-what intelligent iconoclast could fail to experience a destructive impulse in her presence?

The return to a favorite novel is generally tied up with changes in oneself that must be counted as improvements, but have the feel of losses. It is like going back to a favorite house, country, person; nothing is where it belongs, including one's heart.

Labor is work that leaves no trace behind it when it is finished.

Being abroad makes you conscious of the whole imitative side of human behavior. The ape in man.