Love is always love, come whence it may. A heart that beats at your approach, an eye that weeps when you go away are things so rare, so sweet, so precious that they must never be despised.

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Abstinence is the worst form of perversion.

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A sick thought can devour the body's flesh more than fever or consumption.

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The past attracts me, the present frightens me, because the future is death.

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It is the lives we encounter that make life worth living.

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We live always under the weight of the old and odious customs... of our barbarous ancestors.

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Everything is false, everything is possible, everything is doubtful.

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Of all the passions, the only one that seems respectable to me is the passion for food

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The essence of life is the smile of round female bottoms, under the shadow of cosmic boredom.

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Whether we are describing a king, an assassin, a thief, an honest man, a prostitute, a nun, a young girl, or a stallholder in a market, it is always ourselves that we are describing.

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