doubt seems the only purity for those who are too fervent to deny, and too lucid to affirm. Natalie Clifford Barney More Quotes by Natalie Clifford Barney More Quotes From Natalie Clifford Barney All expression, all art, is an indiscretion we commit against ourselves. This is not an 'impoverishment' but an increase in wealth, for it is in this way that we make the short hours of our lives live on beyond themselves. Natalie Clifford Barney expression way art If only art were as rare as good taste. Natalie Clifford Barney good-taste taste art A good book is never exhausted; we are never exhausted by a good book. Natalie Clifford Barney good-book exhausted book The finest life is spent creating oneself, not procreating. Natalie Clifford Barney creating creativity life-is Being other than normal is a perilous advantage. Natalie Clifford Barney advantage normal Fashion: the search for a new absurdity. Natalie Clifford Barney absurdity fashion Hero worship has died with heroes, and if someone bows down today, it is to pick up something. Natalie Clifford Barney bows hero today I judge people's charm by the ease with which I express myself in their presence. Natalie Clifford Barney judging ease people Youth is not a question of years: one is young or old from birth. Natalie Clifford Barney youth age years My only books were women's looks. Natalie Clifford Barney book looks Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed. Natalie Clifford Barney broken-hearted time inspirational In love there is no status quo. Natalie Clifford Barney status-quo Fatalism is the lazy man's way of accepting the inevitable. Natalie Clifford Barney lazy-man literature men Seeking revenge: what a lack of foresight. Natalie Clifford Barney foresight seeking revenge The past is such a subtle thing. [But] in the end, nothing else exists, everything is made of the past, even the future. Natalie Clifford Barney subtle ends past Novels are longer than life. Natalie Clifford Barney novel literature life Eternity - waste of time. Natalie Clifford Barney wasting-time waste time Indiscretion has always seemed to me to be one of the privileges of tact. Natalie Clifford Barney tact privilege What makes bad writers so annoying is their good passages. Natalie Clifford Barney passages annoying To those who ask if I have read their book, I reply: I have not yet read Homer. Natalie Clifford Barney asks ifs book