A man who marries his mistress leaves a vacancy in that position.

A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection.

Circumstances should never alter principles!

I will not bare my soul to their shallow prying eyes. My heart shall never be put under their microscope.

Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on.

The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists. Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize.

Progress is the realization of utopia.