“Exquisite nature, daydreams, and music say one thing, real life another.”

The problem is that we attempt to solve the simplest questions cleverly, thereby rendering them unusually complex. One should seekthe simple solution.

What seems to us serious, significant and important will, in future times, be forgotten or won’t seem important at all.

Man will become better when you show him what he is like.

Just as I shall lie alone in the grave, so, in essence, do I live alone.

Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.

When asked, “Why do you always wear black?”, he said, “I am mourning for my life.

Not one of our mortal gauges is suitable for evaluating non-existence, for making judgments about that which is not a person.

You will not become a saint through other people’s sins.

The government is not God. It does not have the right to take away that which it can’t return even if it wants to.

Oh, I have now a mania for shortness. Whatever I read – my own or other people’s works – it all seems to me not short enough.

The happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burden in silence. Without this silence, happiness would be impossible.

He is an emancipated thinker who is not afraid to write foolish things.

I kept thinking how marvellous it would be if I could somehow tear my heart, which felt so heavy, out of my chest.

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

In short stories it is better to say not enough than to say too much, because, because–I don’t know why.

It’s not a matter of old or new forms; a person writes without thinking about any forms, he writes because it flows freely from his soul.

Only peril can bring the French together. One can’t impose unity out of the blue on a country that has 265 different kinds of cheese.

The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy.

Butterflies and birds are like one perfect teaspoon of creation.

When I look at nature I feel as if I’ll be able to paint it all, note it all down, and then you might as well forget it once you’re working.

When you make a mistake or get ridiculed or rejected, look at mistakes as learning experiences, and ridicule as ignorance. Look at rejection as part of one performance, not as a turn down of the performer.

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.

Of all the stars in the universe I only ever loved you, the one who also loved me.

While adding the finishing touches to a painting might appear insignificant, it is much harder to do than one might suppose.