“The basis of optimism is sheer terror.”

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

I can resist everything except temptation.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.