You are free to do what you want, but you are not free to want what you want.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Genius and madness have something in common: both live in a world that is different from that which exists for everyone else.

A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

I don't get it. It's a bunch of trees with leaves.

My Salome is a mystic the sister of Salammbô a Saint Thérèse who worships the moon.

Good film, television, or music keeps you awake, anxious for the next movement or act, and wanting more when it is finished.

Keep in mind that whenever you are in a crisis, you are in the midst of danger as well as opportunity.

It's the ugly things I notice more, because other people tend to ignore the ugly things.

If writing is your passion, write and don't let anyone else convince you otherwise. You don't need to quit your day job to do it. Create a realistic schedule and stick with it.

I'm always looking for things that make me kind of uncomfortable.

What kills me makes others stronger.

Athenian men, I respect and love you, but I shall obey the god rather than you.

The same fire that cooks a meal for us may burn a child, and it is no fault of the fire if it does so; the difference lies in the way in which it is used.