They are always asking a writer why he does not write like somebody else, or a painter why he does not paint like somebody else, quite oblivious of the fact that if either of them did anything of the kind he would cease to be an artist.

Indeed I have always been of the opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do.

My friend is not allowed to go out today. I sit by his side and read him passages from his own life. They fill him with surprise. Everyone should keep someone else's diary; I sometimes suspect you of keeping mine.

To be really mediæval one should have no body. To be really modern one should have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes.

Hard work is amply the refuge of those who have nothing to do.

If there is anything more annoying in the world than having people talk about you, it is certainly having no one talk about you.

And with tears of blood he cleansed the hand, The hand that held the steel: For only blood can wipe out blood, And only tears can heal