Writing means revealing oneself to excess.
It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.
Everything you say is boring and incomprehensible, but that alone doesn't make it true.
The thornbush is the old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further.
We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.
For we are like tree trunks in the snow. In appearance they lie smoothly and a little push should be enough to set them rolling. No, it can't be done, for they are firmly wedded to the ground. But see, even that is only appearance.