There is no way of conveying to the corpse the reasons you have made him one--you have the corpse, and you are, thereafter, at themercy of a fact which missed the truth, which means that the corpse has you.

You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way... people look at reality, then you can change it.

The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory.

It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.

A writer has to take all the risks of putting down what he sees.

The world's definitions are one thing and the life one actually lives is quite another. One cannot allow oneself, nor one's family, friends, or lovers - to say nothing of one's children - to live according to the world's definitions: one must find a way, perpetually, to be stronger and better than that.

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.