Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will.

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But what does it matter what reality is outside myself, so long as it has helped me to live, to feel that I am, and what I am?

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I should like the fields tinged with red, the rivers yellow and the trees painted blue. Nature has no imagination.

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Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we’re indifferent to whether we win or lose?

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I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no Melancholy.

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As a small child, I felt in my heart two contradictory feelings, the horror of life and the ecstasy of life.

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All which is beautiful and noble is the result of reason and calculation.

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Unable to suppress love, the Church wanted at least to disinfect it, and it created marriage.

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The insatiable thirst for everything which lies beyond, & which life reveals is the most living proof of our immortality.

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Passion I hate, and spirit does me wrong. Let us love gently.

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