The pessimism of the creative person is not decadence but a mighty passion for the redemption of man.

When the time comes I will go joyfully. Whatever may be there, it will be real, without complication, without ridicule, without deception.

But my gloom did not lessen. I knew that I'd had a bad dream, and I stood in the dark trying to recollect it. The second I closed my eyes, I was with the dead. They did things words cannot express. They spoke madness. ("Hanka")

I believe in God but people are liars. It's those people who say they are appointed by God who I don't believe in.

God is a writer and we are both the heroes and the readers.

Actually, the true story of a person's life can never be written. It is beyond the power of literature. The full tale of any life would be both utterly boring and utterly unbelievable.

The New England conscience doesn't keep you from doing what you shouldn't - it just keeps you from enjoying it.