As for politics, I’m an anarchist. I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can’t stand caged animals. People must be free.

What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.

In this book I do not intend to give a blow-by-blow description of a sex bout: I find them inartistic, clinical and unpoetic. The circumstances that lead up to sex I find more interesting.

There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books.

If anybody else says it's like old times, I'll jump out the window.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call it 'maturity'.

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.