It is healthier to see the good points of others than to analyze our own bad ones.

I've tried very hard and I've never found any resemblance between the people I know and the people in my novels.

He lifted me up and held me close against him, my head on his shoulder. At that moment I loved him. In the morning light he was as golden, as soft, as gentle as myself, and he would protect me.

After Proust, there are certain things that simply cannot be done again. He marks off for you the boundaries of your talent.

Writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz. Much of the time life is a sort of rhythmic progression of three characters. If one tells oneself that life is like that, one feels it less arbitrary.

I feel sorry for men. They have more problems than women, because they now have to compete with women.

When you make a decision to write according to a set schedule and really stick to it, you find yourself writing very fast. At least I do.