Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics.

Unfortunately, goodness and honor are rather the exception than the rule among exceptional men, not to speak of geniuses

Genius is one of the many forms of insanity.

It is a sad mission to cut through and destroy with the scissors of analysis the delicate and iridescent veils with which our proud mediocrity clothes itself.

The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities

God and I both knew what it meant once; now God alone knows.

The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand

Klopstock was questioned regarding the meaning of a passage in his poem. He replied, 'God and I both knew what it meant once; now God alone knows.'

The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities.

Brooke was always my summer. She’ll always be my summer. And I had already made my choice a long time ago. Loving Brooke was what I was made to do.

Telling someone to be confident in the abstract is not going to make it easier for the unconfident writer to actually get herself or himself to the point of being able to put in the upsetting stuff.

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity.

My mission is to put France back on its feet. The priority is employment. Efforts have to be made, but those efforts must be made fairly.

The spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church, above all, in prayer.

We human beings can survive the most difficult of circumstances if we are not forced to stand alone.

You really feel an obligation to someone when they're trusting you to do something, and you promise that you'll come through for them.

All artists today are expected to cultivate a little fashionable unhappiness.

Philosophy teaches how man thinks he thinks; but drinking shows how he really thinks.

He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.