I exist. It is soft, so soft, so slow. And light: it seems as though it suspends in the air. It moves.

The individual's duty is to do what he wants to do, to think whatever he likes, to be accountable to no one but himself, to challenge every idea and every person.

The viable jewels of life remain untouched when man forgets his vocation of searching for the truth of his existence.

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 am a man, Jupiter, and each man must invent his own path.

The lad who dreams of being a boxing champion or an admiral chooses reality. If the writer chooses the imaginary, he confuses the two.

With a little luck that epoch may arrive. I am on the side of those who think that things will go better when the world has changed.