One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one's death, one dies one's life.

I am not virtuous. Our sons will be if we shed enough blood to give them the right to be.

Then I realized what separated us: what I thought about him could not reach him; it was psychology, the kind they write about in books. But his judgment went through me like a sword and questioned my very right to exist. And it was true, I had always realized it; I hadn't the right to exist. I had appeared by chance, I existed like a stone, a plant or a microbe. My life put out feelers towards small pleasures in every direction. Sometimes it sent out vague signals; at other times I felt nothing more than a harmless buzzing.

To know what life is worth you have to risk it once in a while.

When one does nothing, one believes oneself responsible for everything.

It is not a matter of indifference whether we like oysters or clams, snails or shrimp, if only we know how to unravel the existential significance of these foods.

I have no need for good souls: an accomplice is what I wanted.