I demanded a realm in which I should be both master and slave at the same time: The world of art is the only such realm.

I had to learn, as I soon did, that one must give up everything and not do anything else but write, that one must writer and write and write, even if everybody in the world advises you against it, even if nobody believes in you.

I think someday you're going to be a great writer," he said. "But" he added maliciously, "first you'll have to suffer a bit. I mean really suffer, because you don't know what the word means yet. You only think you've suffered. You've got to fall in love first.

It was here in Big Sur that I first learned to say 'amen.'

I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it.

...the wise man knows that every experience is to be viewed as a blessing.

To know Paris is to know a great deal.