The happiness of others is never bearable for very long.

No one, but no one, ever behaves 'well' in bed unless they love or are loved - two conditions seldom fulfilled.

Passion is the salt of life, and that at the times when we are under its spell this salt is indispensable to us, even if we have got along very well without it before.

The questions I would have liked to ask people were: ‘Are you in love? What are you reading?

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.

Marriage? It's like asparagus eaten with vinaigrette or hollandaise, a matter of taste but of no importance.

Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen and not a shadow of an idea of what you are going to say.