"Every time that a man has, from a pure motive, renounced a possession, a pleasure, a satisfaction, a compensation, he has increased the quantity of being in the universe."

"The beauty of the world is the smile of God."

"The intelligence can only be led by desire. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure. Pleasure is given by the good."

"The beautiful is that which has no function, no utility."

"Human thought is so made that the desire for truth is more often satisfied by the contemplation of works of art than by the search for truth itself."