Thinking should be like musical meditation. Has any philosopher pursued a thought to its limits the way Bach or Beethoven develop and exhaust a musical theme? Even after having read the most profound thinkers, one still feels the need to begin anew. Only music gives definitive answers.

We interest others by the misfortune we spread around us.

Wherever we go, we come up against the human, a repulsive ubiquity before which we fall into stupor and revolt, a perplexity on fire.

How easy it is to be "deep": all you have to do is let yourself sink into your own flaws.

Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.

No one recovers from the disease of being born, a deadly wound if there ever was one.

Good health is the best weapon against religion. Healthy bodies and healthy minds have never been shaken by religious fears.