I suppose what one wants really is ideal company and books are ideal company.

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

Life... is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game. There tends to be unfinished business. One trails all sorts of things around with one, things that simply won't be got rid of.

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

A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.

Problems of human behavior still continue to baffle us, but at least in the Library we have them properly filed.

For once a thing is known, it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten.