The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which mean never losing your enthusiasm.

The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.

We are all geniuses up to the age of ten.

Europe is so well gardened that it resembles a work of art, a scientific theory, a neat metaphysical system. Man has re-created Europe in his own image.

Perhaps it's good for one to suffer. Can an artist do anything if he's happy? Would he ever want to do anything? What is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life?

The finest works of art are precious, among other reasons, because they make it possible for us to know, if only imperfectly and for a little while, what it actually feels like to think subtly and feel nobly.

Beauty is worse than wine, it intoxicates both the holder and beholder.

It was one of those evenings when men feel that truth, goodness and beauty are one. In the morning, when they commit their discovery to paper, when others read it written there, it looks wholly ridiculous.

Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.

I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.