You have no idea how promising the world begins to look once you have decided to have it all for yourself. And how much healthier your decisions are once they become entirely selfish.

Romanticism is not just a mode; it literally eats into every life. Women will never get rid of just waiting for the right man.

Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted.

When you make a break for freedom you don't necessarily find company on the way.

I am 46, and have been for some time past.

The lessons taught in great books are misleading. The commerce in life is rarely so simple and never so just.

Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society.