If it were possible to have a life absolutely free from every feeling of sin, what a terrifying vacuum it would be.

We can all do good deeds, but very few of us can think good thoughts.

There is only one pleasure-that of being alive. All the rest is misery.

Hate is always a clash between our spirit and someone else's body.

Literature is a defense against the attacks of life. It says to life: You can't deceive me. I know your habits, foresee and enjoy watching all your reactions, and steal your secret by involving you in cunning obstructions that halt your normal flow.

Artists are the monks of the bourgeois state.

When we read, we are not looking for new ideas, but to see our own thoughts given the seal of confirmation on the printed page. The words that strike us are those that awake an echo in a zone we have already made our own—the place where we live—and the vibration enables us to find fresh starting points within ourselves