We live less and less, and we learn more and more. Sensibility is surrendering to intelligence.

Cliche refers to words, commonplace to ideas. Cliche describes the form or the letter, commonplace the substance or spirit. To confuse them is to confuse the thought with the expression of the thought. The cliche is immediately perceivable; the commonplace very often escapes notice if decked out in original dress. There are few examples, in any literature, of new ideas expressed in original form. The most critical mind must often be content with one or the other of these pleasures, only too happy when it is not deprived of both at once, which is not too rarely the case.

To write well, to have style ... is to paint. The master faculty of style is therefore the visual memory. If a writer does not see what he describes-countrysides and figures, movements and gestures-how could he have a style, that is originality?

The woman who loves always smells good.

Very simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds.

For two thousand years Christianity has been telling us: life is death, death is life; it is high time to consult the dictionary.

Modesty is the delicate form of hypocrisy.