He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any many could have.

Don't do what you sincerely don't want to do. Never confuse movement with action.

He saw the girl watching him and he smiled at her. It was an old smile that he had been using for fifty years, ever since he first smiled.

Having books published is very destructive to writing. It is even worse than making love too much. Because when you make love too much at least you get a damned clarte that is like no other light. A very clear and hollow light.

How do you tell a valuable French book?' 'First there are the pictures. Then it is a question of the quality of the pictures. Then it is the binding. If a book is good, the owner will have it bound properly. All books in English are bound, but bound badly. There is no way of judging them.

I kissed her hard and held her tight and tried to open her lips; they were closed tight.

The thing is to become a master and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing.