A criminal is undoubtedly a poor soul, who is punished for his poverty.

I would be the unhappiest person imaginable, confronted daily with disastrous works crying out with errors, imprecision, carelessness, amateurishness. I avoided this punishment by destroying them, I thought, and suddenly I took great pleasure in the word destroying.

All my life I have had the utmost admiration for suicides. I have always considered them superior to me in every way.

What is ridiculous about human beings, Doctor,' the prince said, 'is actually their total incapacity to be ridiculous

everything is ridiculous if one thinks of death

I avoid literature whenever possible, because whenever possible I avoid myself.

Only when I am by seawater can I truly breathe, to say nothing of my ability to think.