The virtue of art lies in detachment, in sequestering one object from the embarrassing variety. Until one thing comes out from theconnection of things, there can be enjoyment, contemplation, but no thought.

You must hear the birds song without attempting to render it into nouns and verbs.

Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins

If men would avoid that general language and general manner in which they strive to hide all that is peculiar, and would say only what was uppermost in their own minds, after their own individual manner, every man would be interesting.

Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend

There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes.

We are made aware that magnitude of material things is relative, and all objects shrink and expand to serve the passion of the poet. Thus, in his sonnets, the lays of birds, the scents and dyes of flowers, he finds to be the shadow of his beloved; time, which keeps her from him, is his chest; the suspicion she has awakened, is her ornament