If you asked me what is the basis of all my work, it's the feeling there's something basically wrong with human beings.

The real issue is not whether two and two make four or whether two and two make five, but whether life advances by men who love words or by men who love living.

As a young man I was scornful about the supernatural but as I have got older, the sharp line that divided the credible from the incredible has tended to blur; I am aware that the whole world is slightly incredible

Could it be that sexual perversion and romanticism sprang from the same longing for distant horizons?

Being very famous is not the fun it sounds. It merely means you're being chased by a lot of people and you lose your privacy.

Sexual activity is driven by the same aims and motives as reading poetry or listening to music: to escape the limitations imposed by the need for particularity in the consciousness.

It was Rousseau who was largely responsible for the problem by giving currency to the idea that freedom can exist without responsibility and discipline.