One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.

The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out, just as Socrates once admitted it, just as Voltaire admitted it.

Not everyone knows how to be silent or to leave in good time. It happens that even people of good breeding fail to notice that their presence provokes in the weary or preoccupied host a feeling akin to hatred, and that this feeling is tensely concealed and covered up with lies.

In a century or two, or in a millennium, people will live in a new way, a happier way. We won"t be there to see it - but it"s why we live, why we work. It"s why we suffer. We"re creating it. That"s the purpose of our existence. The only happiness we can know is to work toward that goal.

I've noticed that people who get married cease to be curious.

Without a knowledge of languages you feel as if you don't have a passport.

You ask me what life is. That's like asking what a carrot is. A carrot is a carrot, and there's nothing more to know.