He felt the loyalty we feel to unhappiness - the sense that is where we really belong.

The subject of a novel is not the plot. Who remembers what happened to Lucien de Rebempre in the end?

This (Vietnam) was a land of rebellious barons. It was like Europe in the Middle Ages. But what were the Americans doing here? Columbus had not yet discovered their country.

Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't, why should we? They talk about people and the proletariat; I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It's the same thing.

One can't love humanity. One can only love people.

Friendship is something in the soul. It is a thing one feels. It is not a return for something.

I wish sometimes you had a few bad motives, you might understand a little more about human beings.