All effort at originality must end either in the quaint or the monstrous. For no man knows himself as an original; he can only believe it on the report of others.

The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.

Distinction is the consequence, never the object of a great mind.

The greatest of all fools is the proud fool--who is at the mercy of every fool he meets.

Never expect justice from a vain man; if he has the negative magnanimity not to disparage you, it is the most you can expect.

Never judge a work of art by its defects.

Desert being the essential condition of praise, there can be no reality in the one without the other.

Reputation is but a synonym of popularity: dependent on suffrage, to be increased or diminished at the will of the voters.

Selfishness in art, as in other things, is sensibility kept at home.

No man knows himself as an original.

The most common disguise of Envy is in praise of what is subordinate.

The misfortune is that although everyone must come to [death], each experiences the adventure in solitude. We never left Maman during those last days... and yet we were profoundly separated from her.

No...No...We don't walk away but when we're holding on to something precious we run. We run away. We run as fast as we can.

The way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people's pain.

One must keep a few smiles aside to laugh at oneself on joyless days.

I got into stand-up to get on a sitcom.

I'm living a dream. I hope in 10 years people will know me as a gold medalist.

Let love give way to business; give attention to business and you will be safe.

You've always been my equal, Roza.

If you really love property, and buildings, lifestyles and how people live, that's a good reason for going into development.

The creative core of New York has never been native New Yorkers; it's people from all over the world.