Will power is only the tensile strength of one's own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce.

The art of living is the art of knowing how to believe lies.

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.

From someone who doesn't want to share your destiny, you should neither accept a cigarette

Childhood is not only the childhood we really had but also the impressions we formed of it in our adolescence and maturity. That is why childhood seems so long. Probably every period of life is multiplied by our reflections upon the next.

Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference. Perhaps this is why we always love madly someone who treats us with indifference.

At great periods you have always felt, deep within you, the temptation to commit suicide. You gave yourself to it, breached your own defenses. You were a child. The idea of suicide was a protest against life; by dying, you would escape this longing for death.