I have always struggled, with the sole intention of ceasing to struggle. Result: zero.

One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland - and no other.

If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot.

To Live signifies to believe and hope - to lie and to lie to oneself.

How important can it be that I suffer and think? My presence in this world will disturb a few tranquil lives and will unsettle the unconscious and pleasant naiveté of others. Although I feel that my tragedy is the greatest in history - greater than the fall of empires - I am nevertheless aware of my total insignificance. I am absolutely persuaded that I am nothing in this universe; yet I feel that mine is the only real existence.

To possess a high degree of consciousness, to be always aware of yourself in relation to the world, to live in the permanent tension of knowledge, means to be lost for life.

Insomnia is a vertiginous lucidity that can convert paradise itself into a place of torture.