Since desire always goes towards that which is our direct opposite, it forces us to love that which will make us suffer.

America hates the artist. It will not admit: the artist is my soul and I want to kill off my soul.

Keeping a Diary all my life helped me to discover some basic elements essential to the vitality of writing.

[On Paris:] A city never entirely known, yet which gives you the feeling of intimacy, of possessing it intimately.

I want to live darkly and richly in my femaleness. I want a man lying over me, always over me. His will, his pleasure, his desire, his life, his work, his sexuality the touchstone, the command, my pivot. I don’t mind working, holding my ground intellectually, artistically; but as a woman, oh, God, as a woman I want to be dominated

In chaos, there is fertility.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.