“Poetry, being elegance itself, cannot hope to achieve visibility. It insists on living its own life.”

“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”

“Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all others and resemble nothing.”

“It is in this way that a war is disastrous. If it does not kill, it transmits to some an energy alien to their own resources; to others it permits what the law forbids and accustoms them to short cuts. It artificially glorifies ingenuity, pity, daring. A whole younger generation believes itself to be sublime and collapses when it has to draw on itself for patriotism and fate.”

“Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what's known as infinity.”

“An artist cannot speak about his art anymore than a plant can discuss horticulture.”

“What uniform can I wear to hide my heavy heart? It is too heavy. It will always show.Jacques felt himself growing gloomy again. He was well aware that to live on earth a man must follow its fashions, and hearts were no longer worn.”