“Repulsion is the sentry that guards the gate to all that we most desire.”

Democratic societies are unfit for the publication of such thunderous revelations as I am in the habit of making.

Physiological expenditure is a superficial way of self-expression. People who incline toward physical love accomplish nothing at all.

The mere fact of photographic transposition means a total invention: the capture of a secret reality.

Anything that does not take place erotically sublimates itself in the work of art.

When we are asleep in this world, we are awake in another.

Liking money like I like it, is nothing less than mysticism. Money is a glory.

Freedom of any kind is the worst for creativity.

Do not be afraid of perfection – you will never attain it.

Genius has to pass over madness and madness over genius.

The reason some portraits don’t look true to life is that some people make no effort to resemble their pictures.

Everything that is contradictory creates life.

There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.

Don’t bother about being modern. Unfortunately it is the one thing that, whatever you do, you cannot avoid.

I don’t smoke, I decided to grow a mustache – it is better for the health.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Knowing how to look is a way of inventing.

There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless.

I have a deeply hidden and inarticulate desire for something beyond the daily life.

There is nothing more important in life than giving. Tolerance is forged when people look beyond their own desires.

Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.

Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but, because of lack of commitment.

If you start by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work towards getting it.

Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire brings a small amount of heat.

The starting point of all achievement is desire.