“Ridicule is the best test of truth.”

“In matters of religion and matrimony I never give advice, because I will not have anybody's torments in this world or the next laid to my charge.”

“Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.”

“We are really so prejudiced by our educations, that, as the ancients deified their heroes, we deify their madmen.”

“Men are not gentle and graceful beings solely oriented towards good. They are physical, coarse, contradictory, stretched between desires and temptations. In an unnatural wish to make them sinless a...”

“Lie down beside these watersThat bubble from the spring;Hear in the desert silenceThe desert sparrow sing;Draw from the shapeless momentSuch pattern as you can;And cleave henceforth to Beauty;Expec...”

“The motives of mankind are plainer than the motions they produce.”

“I write because I must. It's not a choice or a pastime, it's an unyeilding calling and my passion.”

“J'ai un but, une tche, disons le mot, une passion. Le mtier d'crire en est une violente et presque indestructible."[Letter to Jules Boucoiran, 4 March 1831]”

“In your pursuit of your passions, always be young. In your relationship with others, always be grown-up. ”

“I am older than you. Believe me, there is no other way to live on earth. Men are not open to truth or reason. They cannot be reached by a rational argument. The mind is powerless against them. Yet ...”

“The relationship between truth and reason:"Truth cannot be reached by reason alone!”

“I writeNotFor the sake of gloryNot For the sake of fameNotFor the sake of successBut for the sake of my soul”