we are such inward secret creatures, that inwardness the most amazing thing about us, even more amazing than our reason. but we cannot just walk into the cavern and look around. most of what we think we know about our minds is pseudo-knowledge. we are all such shocking poseurs, so good at inflating the importance of what we think we value.

Jealousy is the most dreadfully involuntary of all sins.

The notion that one can liberate another soul from captivity is an illusion of the very young.

to be understood is not a human right. Even to understand oneself is not a human right.

I just enjoy translating, it's like opening one's mouth and hearing someone else's voice emerge.

Daytime sleep is a cursed slumber from which one wakes in despair.

The theatre is certainly a place for learning about the brevity of human glory: oh all those wonderful glittering absolutely vanished pantomime! Now I shall abjure magic and become a hermit : put myself in a situation where I can honestly say that I have nothing else to do but to learn to be good.