Towns oftener swamp one than carry one out onto the big ocean of life.

This is the very worst wickedness, that we refuse to acknowledge the passionate evil that is in us. This makes us secret and rotten.

They say geniuses mostly have great mothers. They mostly have sad fates.

There's always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street.

There is only one thing that a man really wants to do, all his life; and that is, to find his way to his God, his Morning Star, salute his fellow man, and enjoy the woman who has come the long way with him.

There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master.

The world of men is dreaming, it has gone mad in its sleep, and a snake is strangling it, but it can't wake up.

The Moon! Artemis! the great goddess of the splendid past of men! Are you going to tell me she is a dead lump?

The true artist doesn't substitute immorality for morality. On the contrary, he always substitutes a finer morality for a grosser one.

The human being is a most curious creature. He thinks he has got one soul, and he has got dozens.

The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.

The proper study of mankind is man in his relation to his deity.

The only justice is to follow the sincere intuition of the soul, angry or gentle. Anger is just, and pity is just, but judgement is never just.

The only history is a mere question of one's struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.

The one woman who never gives herself is your free woman, who is always giving herself.