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.

All I can do is make the best of what I am, become accustomed to it, evaluate the possibilities, and take advantage of them the best I can.

Perhaps its inevitable, perhaps one has to choose between being nothing at all and impersonating what one is.

Outside nature, against nature, without excuse, beyond remedy, except what remedy I find within myself.

God is the solitude of men. There was only me: I alone decided to commit Evil; alone, I invented Good. I am the one who cheated, I am the one who performed miracles, I am the one accusing myself today, I alone can absolve myself; me, the man.

Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth.

The poor don't know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity.