“What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.”

We are easily comforted for the misfortunes of our friends, when those misfortunes give us an occasion of expressing our affection and solicitude.

We say little, when vanity does not make us speak.

Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference.

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.

To know how to hide one’s ability is great skill.

There are very few people who are not ashamed of having been in love when they no longer love each other.

Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.

Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.

Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.

We promise in proportion to our hopes, and we deliver in proportion to our fears.

Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency.

One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.

As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.

On neither the sun, nor death, can a man look fixedly.

If we are to judge of love by its consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.

I found out that a person named Elizabeth Frazier was living with AIDS at the time, and so I called her up, and she took a meeting with me.

This so-called fame or being better off doesn’t really attract me at all.

This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.

I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.

The so-called peace path is not peace and it is not a substitute for jihad and resistance

One of the reasons why my album is called ‘Forget the World’ is because when you listen to the world, you make stupid mistakes.

Don’t get caught up on ‘I’m brown, black, white, red, blue, whatever.’ You gotta ask, what were you called before 1492?

So in that respect I could be called one, although I don’t think I’ll go off the rails.