As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg

For the canons of good society are, or should be, the same as the canons of art. Form is absolutely essential to it.

Don't imagine that your perfection lies in accumulating or possessing external things. Your affection is inside of you.

The birds that were singing in the dew-drenched garden seemed to be telling the flowers about her.

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is what he is. It has nothing to do with the fact that other people want what they want.

I am afraid he has one of those terribly weak natures that are susceptible to influence.

The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.