I judge people's charm by the ease with which I express myself in their presence.

Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed.

To be one's own master is to be the slave of self.

The past is such a subtle thing. [But] in the end, nothing else exists, everything is made of the past, even the future.

Novels are longer than life.

We are nearly all composed of such a complex mixture of human qualities that in each one of us reside both masculine and feminine principles: what man is without any female attribute and what woman never demonstrates any masculine characteristics?

It's necessary to use suffering. Otherwise, one is used by it.