I've always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality.

Appreciation of art is a moral erection, otherwise mere dilettantism.

A car can massage organs which no masseur can reach. It is the one remedy for the disorders of the great sympathetic nervous system.

Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoils, but cannot wear them plausibly.

What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point along its course in such a way that the artist's presence makes itself felt above that of the model... With the writer, line takes precedence over form and content. It runs through the words he assembles. It strikes a continuous note unperceived by ear or eye. It is, in a way, the soul's style, and if the line ceases to have a life of its own, if it only describes an arabesque, the soul is missing and the writing dies.

Since these mysteries exceed my grasp, I shall pretend to have organized them.

Every day in the mirror I watch death at work.