Working conditions for me have always been those of the monastic life: solitude and frugality. Except for frugality, they are contrary to my nature, so much so that work is a violence I do to myself.

To understand one's world, one must sometimes turn away from it! To serve better, one must briefly hold it at a distance. Where can the necessary solitude be found, the long breathing space in which mind gathers its strength and takes stock of its courage.

Men are convinced of your arguments, your sincerity, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your death.

... We need the sweet pain of anticipation to tell us we are really alive.

I lived with the only continuity, day to day, of the me-me-me.

The world is never quiet, even its silence eternally resounds with the same notes, in vibrations which escape our ears. As for those that we perceive, they carry sounds to us, occasionally a chord, never a melody.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.