We all wallow in the mud, but some of us look to the stars.
We are all ready to trust others for the simple reason that we fear for ourselves. Optimism is rooted in pure fear.
Everyone calls experience their own mistakes.
All charming people are immoral. This is the secret of their beauty.
All lament the misfortunes of their friends, but few rejoice in their success.
All good hats are created out of nothing; so are all good reputations.
You always have to play fair if you have all the trumps in your hand.
It's always nice not to come where you're expected.
All the beauty of the past lies in the fact that it is past. And women never notice that the curtain has fallen. They need the sixth act too!
All dirty poetry is born of a sincere feeling. To be natural is to be clear, and to be clear is not to be an artist.
Any rules about what you should and shouldn't read are just ridiculous. Modern culture is based more than half on what not to read.
Every portrait made out of love is, in essence, the very portrait of the painter, and not of the one who took the picture. The painter does not show him on the canvas, but himself.
Anyone who has lived among the poor will agree that human brotherhood is not an empty invention of the poets, but the most oppressive and wretched reality; and if a writer really endeavored to know the manners of high society, he might arrive at an understanding of them with the same success, if he painted match-sellers or fruit sellers.
Every influence is harmful, but the beneficial one is the worst in the world.
Every crime is vulgar, just as every vulgarity is a crime.
Profanity is simply the behavior of other people. The others are generally a terrible audience. The only good company is yourself.
Yesterday she was wearing a lot of make-up, and very little clothes. In a woman you always find a sign of desperation.
A bishop at the age of eighty continues to repeat what was instilled in him when a youth of eighteen, — it is clear that his figure retains its beauty and pleasant appearance.
If England treats all her prisoners as she treats me, she does not deserve to have them at all.
If, nowadays, the ancient Greek were resurrected, we would meet him more often in the circus than in the theater.
If only we men would marry the women we deserve, it would be too bad for us!
If he had known less, he would probably have become a poet.
If you are leaving for a short time, I am ready to wait for you for a lifetime.
If you want to know what a woman is really thinking, look at her, but don't listen to her.
If a woman looks ten years younger than her daughter, she is perfectly happy with that.
If a man once loved a woman, he would do anything for her except one thing: to keep loving her.
If the lower classes will not set us an example, then what good are they?
If nature is matter that tends to become soul, then art is a soul that expresses itself materially.
If the play is a work of art, then staging it in a theater is a test not for the play, but for the theater; and if it is not a work of art, its staging in the theater is not a test for the play, but for the audience.
If you tell the truth, sooner or later you will be caught anyway.