I have gotten so used to melancholia that I greet it like an old friend.

I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.

People who believe in politics are like people who believe in God: they are sucking wind through bent straws.

Finally there is nothing here for death to take away.

That's how it is with books, isn't it: They're not in a hurry. They'll wait for you till you're ready. People empty me. I have to go away to refill.

Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live.

There's nothing like privacy. You know, I like people. It's nice that they might like my books and all that...but I'm not the book, see? I'm the guy who wrote it, but I don't want them to come up and throw roses on me or anything. I want them to let me breathe.