To me, art almost always speaks more forcefully when it appears in an imperfect, accidental, and fragmentary way, somehow just signaling its presence, allowing one to feel it through the ineptitude of the interpretation. I prefer the Chopin that reaches me in the street from an open window to the Chopin served in great style from the concert stage.

Man does not fear death, only the suffering.

It is in the prime of youth that man sinks into empty phrases and grimaces. It's in this smithy that our maturity is forged.

Foolishness is a twin sister of wisdom.

Man is profoundly dependent on the reflection of himself in another man's soul, be it even the soul of an idiot.

Great poetry must be admired, because it is great and because it is poetry, and so we admire it.

Any artist who respects himself ought to be, and in every sense of the term, an emigre.