Almost Kien was tempted to believe in happiness, that contemptible life-goal of illiterates. If it came of itself, without being hunted for, if you did not hold it fast by force and treated it with a certain condescension, it was permissible to endure its presence for a few days

In five minutes the earth would be a desert, and you cling to books.

He would like to start from scratch. Where is scratch?

It is important what a man still plans at the end. It shows the measure of injustice in his death.

One should not confuse the craving for life with endorsement of it.

Everything one records contains a grain of hope, no matter how deeply it may come from despair.

Pessimists are not boring. Pessimists are right. Pessimists are superfluous.