It is Nature who makes our artists for us, though it may be Art who taught them their right mode of expression.

There is nothing in the world like the devotion of a married woman. It is a thing no married man knows anything about.

M. Zola is determined to show that, if he has not got genius, he can at least be dull.

I knew nothing but shadows and I thought them to be real.

It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world

Actual life was chaos, but there was something terribly logical in the imagination. It was the imagination that set remorse to dog the feet of sin. It was the imagination that made each crime bear its misshapen brood. In the common world of fact the wicked were not punished, nor the good rewarded. Success was given to the strong, failure thrust upon the weak. That was all.

Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success.