I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man.

There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.

Time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible, then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres.

This inescapable duty to observe oneself: if someone else is observing me, naturally I have to observe myself too; if none observe me, I have to observe myself all the closer.

I am in chains. Don't touch my chains.

Nothing, you know, gives the body greater satisfaction than ordering people about, or at least believing in one's ability to do so.

My doubts stand in a circle around every word, I see them before I see the word, but what then! I do not see the word at all, I invent it.