Contradiction itself, far from always being a criterion of error, is sometimes a sign of truth.

A well ordered society would be one where the State only had a negative action, comparable to that of a rudder: a light pressure at the right moment to counteract the first suggestion of any loss of equilibrium.

It is precisely those artists and writers who are most inclined to think of their art as the manifestation of their personality who are in fact the most in bondage to public taste.

Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.

Intellectual adherence is never owed to anything whatsoever, for it is never in any degree a voluntary thing. Attention alone is voluntary. It alone forms the subject of an obligation.

Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention.

To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.