How far does a pretence of feeling, maintained with absolute conviction, become authentic?

The only time I ever iron the sheets or make meringues is when there is an ... urgent deadline in the offing.

Soon, nostalgia will be another name for Europe.

Hope for the best, expect the worst.

In the mythic schema of all relations between men and women, man proposes, and woman is disposed of.

And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shining hairs. My earrings turned back to water and trickled down my shoulders; I shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur.

we must not blame our poor symbols if they take forms that seem trivial to us, or absurd, ... however paltry they may be; the nature of our life alone has determined their forms.