In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.

I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.

Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

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

Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.

If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart.

What fire does not destroy, it hardens

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

Small steps of faith add up to great leaps of success.

Dynasties rise and fall according to what the Chinese used to call ‘the mandate of heaven’, but life for the peasant changes little.

I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the situation.

As a rule of thumb, if the government wants you to know it, it probably isn't true.

I don't want to know what they think of me - there's always going to be someone who won't like it and that'll just upset me. So, if I'm happy with it, it just matters if I've done my little vision.

I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so unhappy.

I’ve longed for kids since I was very, very young. And so ... I’m waiting to find the right person, someone who’s willing to take on the job.

Highest love for God can never be achieved without renunciation.

Thought is an infection. In the case of certain thoughts, it becomes an epidemic.

Many do not recognize the call of God simply because they have never taken the time to really talk with Him long enough to know what He is like.