The poor don't know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity.

Man is condemned to be free

I think [Alain Robbe-Grillet] a good writer, but he speaks to the comfortable bourgeoisie.

I was not the one to invent lies: they were created in a society divided by class and each of us inherited lies when we were born. It is not by refusing to lie that we will abolish lies: it is by eradicating class by any means necessary.

I wanted the moments of my life to follow and order themselves like those of a life remembered. You might as well try and catch time by the tail.

There are photographers who push for war because they make stories. They search for a Chinese who has a more Chinese are than the others and they end up finding one. They have him take a typically Chinese pose and surround him with chinoiseries. What have they captured on their film? A Chinese? Definitely not: the idea of the Chinese.

I discovered suddenly that alienation, exploitation of man by man, under-nourishment, relegated to the background metaphysical evil which is a luxury.