No one ever has time to examine himself honestly, and most people look no further than their neighbors' eyes, in which they may see their own reflection.

It seems to me that there are two kinds of trickery: the "fronts" people assume before one another's eyes, and the "front" a writer puts on the face of reality.

There is a certain age when a woman must be beautiful to be loved, and then there comes a time when she must be loved to be beautiful.

Houses are for private living, for friends, and for dogs.

I dreamt of being a writer once I started to read. I started to write 'Bonjour Tristesse' in bistros around the Sorbonne. I finished it, I sent it to editors. It was accepted.

Usually I avoided college students, whom I considered brutal, wrapped up in themselves, particularly in their youth, in which they found material for drama or an excuse for their own boredom. I did not care for young people.

For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.