This thought strengthened in me my belief that all men, without exception, deserve to be pitied, if only because they are alive.

The less one notices happiness, the greater it is.

Our ideals, laws and customs should be based on the proposition that each generation in turn becomes the custodian rather than the absolute owner of our resources - and each generation has the obligation to pass this inheritance on in the future.

A writer survives in spite of his beliefs.

Yes, one uses what one knows, but autobiography means something else. I should never be able to write a real autobiography; I always end by falsifying and fictionalizing—I’m a liar, in fact. That means I’m a novelist, after all. I write about what I know.

I do not foresee a time when I shall feel that I have nothing to say.

I like to compare my method with that of painters centuries ago, proceeding from layer to layer.