Of course his dust would be absorbed in other living things and to that degree at least he would exist again, though it was plain enough that the specific combination which was he would never exist again.

Between Malraux, Balzac, and Montaigne, I choose Montaigne. Montaigne will survive all the others, because the essay, meaning direct communication between the writer and his reader, will outlast the novel, by at least a thousand years.

The critics are like tourists who return from a trip saying they've "done" Machu Picchu: "Okay, we've done magical realism," so now we can throw it out.

It is ironic that a nation that has never experienced a coup d'etat should be so obsessed with the idea of conspiracy.

I do not much care for nature, and believe that flowers belong in vases rather than loose and untidy on the ground.

One's neighbor is always the enemy. That is the nature of things.

Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.