You are -- your life, and nothing else.

That is exactly the writer's problem. What does literature stand for in a hungry world?

Ah! How I hate the crimes of the new generation: they are dry and sterile as darnel.

Freedom is existence, and in it existence precedes essence.

I had spent my time counterfeiting eternity.

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.

I had found my religion: nothing seemed more important to me than a book. I saw the library as a temple.