Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.

I am finishing a biography of [Gustave] Flaubert. Because he is the opposite of what I am. One needs to rub up against argument.

I receive letters from workers, from secretaries. . . . They are the most interesting ones.

Existence is prior to essence.

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

I never could bear the idea of anyone's expecting something from me. It always made me want to do just the opposite.

Let it crumble! Let the rocks revile me and flowers wilt at my coming. Your whole universe is not enough to prove me wrong. You are the king of gods, king of stones and stars, king of the waves of the sea. But you are not the king of man.