Most of us live in a condition of secrecy: secret desires, secret appetites, secret hatreds and relationship with the institutions which is extremely intense and uncomfortable. These are, to me, a part of the ordinary human condition. So I don't think I'm writing about abnormal things. ... Artists, in my experience, have very little center. They fake. They are not the real thing. They are spies. I am no exception.

Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.

What else has a journalist to do these days, after all, but report life's miseries?

We lie to one another every day, in the sweetest way, often unconsciously. We dress ourselves and compose ourselves in order to present ourselves to one another.

I grew up in a completely bookless household. It was my father's boast that he had never read a book from end to end.

I mean, you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you now?

But there is a big difference in working for the West and working for a totalitarian state.