Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far. — Jean Cocteau

"True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing."

"Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoils, but cannot wear them plausibly."

"What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end; legends are lies which become history in the end."

"The trouble about the Académie is that by the time they get around to electing us to a seat, we really need a bed."

"What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point along its course in such a way that the artist’s presence makes itself felt above that of the model... With the writer, line takes precedence over form and content. It runs through the words he assembles. It strikes a continuous note unperceived by ear or eye. It is, in a way, the soul’s style, and if the line ceases to have a life of its own, if it only describes an arabesque, the soul is missing and the writing dies."

"Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind."