I palliate the sufferings of others. yes I see myself as softening the blows, dissolving acids, neutralizing poisons, every moment of the day. I try to fulfill the wishes of others, to perform miracles. I exert myself performing miracles.

One discovers that destiny can be diverted, that one does not have to remain in bondage to the first wax imprint made on childhood sensibilities. Once the deforming mirror has been smashed, there is a possibility of wholeness. There is a possibility of joy.

Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.

I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing.

He had a mania for washing and disinfecting himself. . . . For him the only danger came from the microbes that attacked the body. He had not studied the microbe of conscience which eats into the soul.

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