The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the read more

The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.

I love luxury. And luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity. Vulgarity is the read more

I love luxury. And luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity. Vulgarity is the ugliest word in our language. I stay in the game to fight it.

We are not naïve enough to ask for pure men; we ask merely for men whose impurity does not conflict read more

We are not naïve enough to ask for pure men; we ask merely for men whose impurity does not conflict with the obligations of their job.

The stream is always purer at its source.
[Fr., Les choses valent toujours mieux dans leur source.]

The stream is always purer at its source.
[Fr., Les choses valent toujours mieux dans leur source.]

Vulgarity begins when imagination succumbs to the explicit.

Vulgarity begins when imagination succumbs to the explicit.

A thing is not vulgar merely because it is common

A thing is not vulgar merely because it is common

If a man's mind becomes pure, his surroundings will also become pure.

If a man's mind becomes pure, his surroundings will also become pure.

That water which wall from some Alpine height is dashed, broken,
and will murmur loudly, but grows limpid by read more

That water which wall from some Alpine height is dashed, broken,
and will murmur loudly, but grows limpid by its fall.
[It., Quell' onda, che ruina
Dalla pendice alpina,
Balza, si frange, e mormora
Ma limpida si fa.]

The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond.

The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond.