Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.

We think in youth that our bodies are identical to ourselves and have the same interests, but discover later in life that they are heartless companions who have been accidentally yoked with us, and who are as likely as not, in our extreme sickness or old age, to treat us with less mercy than we would have received at the hands of the worst bandits.

I have no faith in the sense of comforting beliefs which persuade me that all my troubles are blessings in disguise.

Birds sat on the telegraph wires that spanned the river as the black notes sit on a staff of music.

To make laws is a human instinct that arises as soon as food and shelter have been ensured, among all peoples, everywhere.

A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the damned things is ample.

It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.