Man is the being whose project it is to be God.

Genius is what a man invents when he is looking for a way out.

Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene and only afterwards, defines himself

I must be without remorse or regrets as I am without excuse; for from the instant of my upsurge into being, I carry the weight of the world by myself alone without help, engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant.

My pessimism has never been flabby.

Something begins in order to end: an adventure doesn't let itself be extended it achieves significance only through its death.

Many young people today do not concern themselves with style. They think that what one says should be said simply and that is all. For me, style - which does not exclude simplicity, quite the opposite - is above all a way of saying three or four things in one. There is the simple sentence, with its immediate meaning, and then at the same time, below this immediate meaning, other meanings are organized. If one is not capable of giving language this plurality of meaning, then it is not worth the trouble to write.