I am a born novelist, which does not happen all that often. There are people who try to write for a certain time, then they become Ministers of Culture under de Gaulle, and they begin living their own fictions.

Then die. We must all do that. But die, as they say, game.

People in my situation get to read about themselves whether they want to or not. It's generally wrong. Or oversimplified - which is sometimes useful.

Most writers write books that they wouldn't read. I ought to know; I've done it myself.

That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness of writers.

France is a nation devoted to the false hypothesis on which it then builds marvelously logical structures.

I’m not sentimental about anything. Life flows by, and you flow with it or you don’t. Move on and move out.