To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art; men can only make us feel small in the wrong way.

Unless we remember we cannot understand.

Works of art, in my opinion, are the only objects in the material universe to possess internal order, and that is why, though I don't believe that only art matters, I do believe in Art for Art's sake.

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

Beauty ought to look a little surprised: it is the emotion that best suits her face. The beauty who does not look surprised, who accepts her position as her due - she reminds us too much of a prima donna.

The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society was eternal.

Love is always being given where it is not required.

Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.

History develops, art stands still.

One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.

I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars.

Charm, in most men and nearly all women, is a decoration.

What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can't touch.

If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.

Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.

Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.

The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.