I sometimes need to write things which I cannot completely control but which therefore prove that what is in me is stronger than I am.

In every guilty man, there is some innocence. This makes every absolute condemnation revolting.

What did it matter if he existed for two or for twenty years? Happiness was the fact that he had existed.

Modern conquerors can kill, but do not seem to be able to create. Artists know how to create but cannot really kill. Murderers are only very exceptionally found among artists.

Every writer, big or small, needs to say or write that the genius is always hissed at by his contemporaries. Naturally, this is not true, it happens only occasionally and often by chance. But this need within the writer is enlightening.

Culture: the cry of men in face of their destiny.

At a certain level of suffering or injustice no one can do anything for anyone. Pain is solitary.