Why should anybody be interested in some old man who was a failure?

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

They can't yank a novelist like they can a pitcher. A novelist has to go the full nine, even if it kills him.

I did not care what it was all about. All I wanted to know was how to live in it. Maybe if you found out how to live in it you learned from that what is was all about.

My life used to be full of everything. Now if you aren't with me I haven't a thing in the world.

He's a great writer. If I didn't think so I wouldn't have tried to kill him... I was the champ and when I read his stuff I knew he had something. So I dropped a heavy glass skylight on his head at a drinking party. But you can't kill the guy. He's not human.

Never fall in love?" "Always," said the count. "I am always in love.