“Stupidity is not my strong point.”

“Love is being stupid together.”

“I know nothing more stupid and indeed vulgar than wanting to be right.”

“This, dear Phaedrus, is the most important point: no geometry without the word. Without it, figures are accidents, and neither make manifest nor serve the power of the mind.”

“Ingres’ pencil pursues ideal grace to the point of monstrosity: the spine never long and supple enough, the neck flexible enough, the thighs smooth enough, or all the curves of the body sufficiently beguiling to the eye, which envelopes and caresses more than it seems them. The Odalisque, with a hint of the plesiosaurus about her, makes one wonder what might have resulted from a carefully controlled selection, through the centuries, of a breed of woman specially designed for pleasure – as the English horse is bred for racing.”

“My soul is nothing now but the dream dreamt by matter struggling with itself!”

“My hand feels touched as well as it touches; reality says this, and nothing more.”