Poetry is thoughts that breathe, 

and words that burn.

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, 

but not the madness of people.

Inspiration is an awakening, 

a quickening of all man's faculties, 

and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements.

Waiting for the spark from heaven to fall.

I have learned more from my mistakes than from my successes.

The barriers are not erected 

which can say to aspiring talents and industry, 

'Thus far and no farther.'

The truth is cruel, 

but it can be loved, 

and it makes free 

those who have loved it.

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.

Time is a great teacher, 

but unfortunately 

it kills all its pupils.

Find ecstasy in life; 

the mere sense of living is joy enough.

Mathematical science shows what is. 

It is the language of unseen relations between things. 

But to use and apply that language, 

we must be able fully to appreciate, 

to feel, 

to seize the unseen, 

the unconscious.

Truth never comes into the world but like a bastard, 

to the ignominy of him that brought her birth.

Originality depends only on the character of the drawing 

and the vision peculiar to each artist.

Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, 

I could see it all again 

and feel the meaning with a part of me 

like a strange power glowing in my body; 

but when the part of me that talks 

would try to make words for the meaning, 

it would be like fog 

and get away from me.

Do the things you know, 

and you shall learn the truth you need to know.

The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.

Will and intellect are one and the same thing.

Most quarrels amplify a misunderstanding.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; 

it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

To be a surrealist means 

barring from your mind 

all remembrance of what you have seen, 

and being always on the lookout 

for what has never been.

Let us read and let us dance — 

two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.

We seldom call anybody lazy, 

but such as we reckon inferior to us, 

and of whom we expect some service.

My wish is to stay always like this, 

living quietly in a corner of nature.

When a man undertakes to create something, 

he establishes a new heaven, as it were, 

and from it 

the work that he desires to create 

flows into him

Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Life is to blame for everything.

The past grows gradually around one, 

like a placenta for dying.

Do the best you can, 

and don't take life too serious.

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.

The number of those 

who undergo the fatigue 

of judging for themselves 

is very small indeed.

The measure of a man's real character 

is what he would do 

if he knew he would never be found out.

Others have seen what is and asked why. 

I have seen what could be and asked why not.

There are no right answers to wrong questions.

Our own heart, 

and not other men's opinions 

form our true honour.

To find out what one is fitted to do, 

and to secure an opportunity to do it, 

is the key to happiness.

Homo sapiens, 

the only creature endowed with reason, 

is also the only creature 

to pin its existence on things unreasonable.

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.

Once we believe in ourselves, 

we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, 

or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

The conscience of the world is so guilty 

that it always assumes 

that people who investigate heresies 

must be heretics

Good writing excites me, 

and makes life worth living.

If I don't know I don't know, 

I think I know. 

If I don't know I know, 

I think I don't know.

No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.

First they ignore you, 

then they laugh at you, 

then they fight you, 

then you win.

You must be a lotus, 

unfolding its petals when the sun rises in the sky, 

unaffected by the slush where it is born 

or even the water which sustains it!

Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; 

doing what is impossible for talent is genius.

Making itself intelligible is suicide for philosophy.

It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.