I think there is an enormous diference between speaking and writing. One rereads what one writes. But one might read it slowly or quickly. In other words, you do not know how long you will have to spend deliberating over a sentence. ... But if I listen to a tape recorder, the listening time is determined by the speed at which the tape turns and not by my own needs.

If you begin by saying, 'Thou shalt not lie,' there is no longer any possibility of political action.

I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.

Once freedom lights its beacon in man's heart, the gods are powerless against him.

It is certain that we cannot escape anguish, for we are anguish.

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.

How can I, who was not able to retain my own past, hope to save that of another?