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

Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.

Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all. How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation?

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

Love means the body, the soul, the life, the entire being. We feel love as we feel the warmth of our blood, we breathe love as we breathe air, we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us.

Military men are the scourges of the world.

Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck.

The bed comprehends our whole life, for we were born in it, we live in it, and we shall die in it.

The simplest of women are wonderful liars who can extricate themselves from the most difficult dilemmas with a skill bordering on genius.