It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that genius lasts longer than beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place. The thoroughly well-informed man--that is the modern ideal. And the mind of the thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-a-brac shop, all monsters and dust, with everything priced above its proper value.

Niagara Falls is simply a vast unnecessary amount of water going over the wrong way and then falling over unnecessary cliffs...The wonder would be if the water did not fall.

Schopenhauer has analysed the pessimism that characterize modern thought, but Hamlet invented it

Something was dead in each of us, and what was dead was hope

In England it is enough for a man to try and produce any serious, beautiful work to lose all his rights as a citizen.

There is nothing that art cannot express.

I am happy in my prison of passion