So that is what hell is. I would never have believed it. You remember: the fire and brimstone, the torture. Ah! the farce. There is no need for torture: Hell is other people.

Everything is gratuitous, this garden, this city and myself. When you suddenly realize it, it makes you feel sick and everything begins to drift . . . that's nausea.

For common minds have an ugly ability to perceive in the deepest and richest saying nothing but their own everyday opinion.

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

What I ask of [the writer] is not to ignore the reality and the fundamental problems that exist. The world's hunger, the atomic threat, the alienation of man, I am astonished that they do not color all our literature.

Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices.

Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.