The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.

What well-bred woman would refuse her heart to a man who had just saved her life? Not one; and gratitude is a short cut which speedily leads to love.

There is nothing truly beautiful but that which can never be of any use whatsoever; everything useful is ugly, for it is the expression of some need, and man's needs are ignoble and disgusting like his own poor and infirm nature. The most useful place in a house is the water-closet.

Sometimes he sits at your feet looking into your face with an expression so gentle and caressing that the depth of his gaze startles you.

You do not become a critic until it has been completely established to your own satisfaction that you cannot be a poet.

Any man who does not have his inner world to translate is not an artist.

Only that which serves no end is beautiful; everything useful is ugly.