A novel is like a bow, and the violin that produces the sound is the reader's soul.

When a man leaves his mistress, he runs the risk of being betrayed two or three times daily.

Life is very short, and it ought not to be spent crawling at the feet of miserable scoundrels.

The first characteristic of Rossini's music is speed - a speed which removes from the soul all the sombre emotions that are so powerfully evoked within us by the slow strains in Mozart. I find also in Rossini a cool freshness, which, measure by measure, makes us smile with delight.

Beauty is nothing but a promise of happiness.

Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge.

The man of genius is he and he alone who finds such joy in his art that he will work at it come hell or high water.