"I regard society as a species of animal which preys upon its own kind."

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception."

"I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human integrity has been ruined by the fall, and that I am a member of the ruined species."

"That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating, and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful."

"And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave."