The work of art is the exaggeration of an idea.

And do not seek to welcome everything; repulse rather. Remember that the Hebrews killed but did not convert. It is always the enemy that one welcomes. The Mussulmans know this too; they do not listen to the thought of others; they resist it. What allows mules to be obstinate is their blinders. And what will you gain by understanding that all the rest has just as much reason to exist as you? Understanding is the beginning of approving. To negate with conviction one must never have looked at what one negates. 

Rousseau’s strength came from his solitude; for, since there is stupidity everywhere, the danger comes from the fact that one’s partisans may exaggerate it; you see that stupidity too clearly and you cease to be convinced. So long as you remain alone on your side, you triumph; the stupidity seems to be all on the other side, and this helps you to get yourself in deeper. 

And people think that it is for the sake of meditation that the most convinced theorists need solitude!

“The thing that embarrasses me when I talk with you,” he says, “is that i haven’t yet discovered when you find me interesting.”

“But precisely when you say such things as that, my dear Philippe.”