“To tell the truth, my dear count, I must own that of all nauseating human emanations, literature is one of those which disgust me most. I can see nothing in it but compromise and flattery. And I go so far as to doubt whether it can be anything else.”

“What would be the description of happines? Nothing, except what prepares and then what destroys it, can be told.”

“I intend to bring you strength, joy, courage, perspicacity, defiance.”

“To acquire the full consciousness of self is to know oneself so different from others that no longer feels allied with men except by purely animal contacts: nevertheless, among souls of this degree, there is an ideal fraternity based on differences,--while society fraternity is based on resemblances.The full consciousness of self can be called originality of soul, -and all this is said only to point out the group of rare beings to which Andre Gide belongs.The misfortune of these beings, when they express themselves, is that they do it with such odd gestures that men fear to approach them; their life of social contacts must often revolve in the brief circle of ideal fraternities; or, when the mob consents to admit such souls, it is as curiosities or museum objects. Their glory is, finally, to be loved from afar & almost understood, as parchments are seen & read above sealed cases.”

“It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace.”

“'Therefore' is a word the poet must not know.”

“Art is the collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”

“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”

“Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.”

“There is no prejudice that the work of art does not finally overcome.”

“The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.”