Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.

All human actions are equivalent... and all are on principle doomed to failure.

Words are loaded pistols.

You see, the contemporary writer must write through his intimations of unease, while trying to elucidate them.

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.

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.

One always dies too soon or too late. And yet, life is there, finished: the line is drawn, and it must all be added up. You are nothing other than your life.