(Egypt) is a great place for contrasts: splendid things gleam in the dust.

Casting aspersions on those we love always does something to loosen our ties. We shouldn't maltreat our idols: the gilt comes off on our hands.

What an awful thing life is, isn’t it? It’s like soup with lots of hairs floating on the surface. You have to eat it nevertheless.

Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it

If you knew all the dreams I've dreamed!

… Her heart remained empty once more, and the procession of days all alike began again. So they were going to follow one another, like this, in line, always identical, innumerable, bringing nothing!