"Skepticism has never founded empires, established principals, or changed the world's heart. The great doers in history have always been people of faith."

"A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star."

"Neutral men are the devil's allies."

"At the bottom of not a little of the bravery that appears in the world, there lurks a miserable cowardice. Men will face powder and steel because they have not the courage to face public opinion."

"Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding."

"Everyone goes to the same exhibitions and the same parties, stays in the same handful of hotels, eats at the same no-star restaurants, and has almost the same opinions. I adore the art world, but this is copycat behavior in a sphere that prides itself on independent thinking."

"The construction of Europe is an art. It is the art of the possible."

"A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself."