And Boucard desisted, probably because like everyone else he was deeply impressed by this man who had laid all ghosts, who had lost all shadows, and who stared you in the eyes with cold serenity.

It was night and I could see a large and calm lake, reflecting the moon. Black mountains rose around it. I arrived from between two of these mountains, I looked at the lake and the moon, and that was it, nothing else happened.

We are all potentially characters in a novel--with the difference that characters in a novel really get to live their lives to the full.

A novelist is a man who doesn't like his mother.

I have made love to ten thousand women.

And Boucard desisted, probably because like everyone else he was deeply impressed by this man who had laid all ghosts, who had lost all shadows, and who stared you in the eyes with cold serenity.

I saw Mussolini tirelessly contemplate a parade of thousands of young men.