If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction. There exists, therefore, outside alkaloids and habit, a sense for opium, an intangible habit which lives on, despite the recasting of the organism. The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.

One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends.

The hot hall full of painted girls and American soldiers is a saloon in some Western film. This noise drenches us, wakens us to do something else. It shows us a lost path.

Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind.

One is either judge or accused. The judge sits, the accused stands. Live on your feet.

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

Since it's now fashionable to laugh at the conservative French Academy, I have remained a rebel by joining it.